Panasonic's CardioHealth Station Improves Patient Outcomes Through Early Diagnosis in Primary Care

Dusseldorf, Germany, November 17 (ots/PRNewswire) -

Panasonic announced today the European availability of its
innovative ultrasound tool for personalized preventive medicine, the
CardioHealth Station, at renowned medical trade fair MEDICA in
Dusseldorf, Germany (booth 9E47). The device, which is FDA cleared
and recently secured its CE registration mark, is designed to assist
medical professionals in making a quick and valuable assessment of
cardiovascular health. The test takes less than five minutes from the
time the scan starts to the delivery of a report. The CardioHealth
Station is now available in Europe having obtained all necessary
regulatory approvals.

Dr. Davide Vanoli, Umeå Heart Centre, University of Northern
Sweden, welcomes the availability of the CardioHealth station in
primary care: "This device enables healthcare professionals to assess
cardiovascular risk in a primary care setting, taking it out of the
hospital. Patients can be assessed earlier in the treatment pathway,
which leads to enhanced patient outcomes, and a more accurate
assessment of patient risk than looking at risk factors alone."

Recently published studies (ARIC & MESA)*[1] have shown that
vascular health assessment can reveal the risks of a likely
cardiovascular event. The ARIC*[2] study, a recent multi-institution
study, indicates that certain patients can be reclassified in terms
of the level of risk of a cardiovascular event by looking at the
carotid artery thickness and the presence of plaque in that patient.
As a result, Panasonic developed the innovative CardioHealth Station,
a much needed device that will help the medical practitioner, quickly
detect thickened carotid arteries or plaques. This process can now be
taken out of the hospital setting and easily done in primary care.
What once used to be difficult and impractical to do on a mass basis
is now made possible by the innovative automation technology loaded
as standard in the CardioHealth Station.

Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Europe Ltd. Laurent Abadie, stated,
"We know that the cardiovascular health bill in Europe is over EUR190
billion a year. The CardioHealth station is an example of our
commitment to ease the physical, physiological and financial burden
of healthcare. Early diagnosis and treatment is one of three trends
shaping our global healthcare strategy, which we aim to realise by
supplying technologies that diagnose the health condition quicker and
build the foundation for affordable and manageable prevention
solutions."

The CardioHealth Station has a built-in portable ultrasound
system optimized to perform a non-invasive examination of the
peripheral arteries. It provides an automated measurement of the
intima-media thickness (IMT) of arteries such as the common carotid
and allows the user to search for arterial plaques using real-time
B-mode imaging. The touchscreen keyboard allows the user to input
various parameters relating to traditional cardiovascular risk
factors. A built in calculator provides risk scores commonly used in
a variety of geographical locations (Framingham Risk Score, PROCAM
Health Check Score and Risk score based on the SCORE Project). This
information is supplemented with an IMT measurement of the carotid
artery to generate a comprehensive report to aid the physician in
assessing cardiovascular risk.

Notes to Editors

*1 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and the ongoing
Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Both studies are
sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. More
information about the ARIC study can be found at
http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric; more information about the MESA study
can be found at http://www.mesa-nhlbi.org

*2 ARIC study can be found at http://www.cscc.unc.edu/aric

About Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Healthcare Co, Ltd., headquartered in Matsuyama, Japan,
is a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation that specializes in the
development and manufacture of healthcare products, including blood
glucose monitoring systems, ultrasound diagnostic systems and hearing
instruments. Founded in 1948, the company has been developing
cutting-edge technologies in in-vitro diagnostic systems, medical
imaging, hearing solutions, medical instruments and hospital systems
to provide value-added solutions to healthcare professionals and
patients. The previous corporate name was Panasonic Shikoku
Electronics Co Ltd., which was changed to the current name on October
1, 2010. For more information, visit
http://panasonic.net/corporate/segments/phc.

For more company information, please visit
http://www.panasonic.eu.

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development
and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer,
business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company
recorded consolidated net sales of 8.69 trillion yen
(US$105.0billion) for the year ended March 31, 2011. The company's
shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York stock
exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic
brand, visit the company's website at http://panasonic.net.

ots Originaltext: Panasonic
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Contact:
Panasonic Europe Ltd., Hagenauer Strasse 43,
65203 Wiesbaden, Germany, Press contact: Matt Bailey,
E:matt.bailey@eu.panasonic.com,
Tel. +49-(0)611-23-53-82, Mob. +49-173-6292092