MORRISVILLE – In new research findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) Cardiovascular Imaging, scientists found that the technology developed by Triangle startup Myocardial Solutions was able to differentiate between healthy patients and patients who were at risk of heart failure though they were not displaying symptoms.
MyoStrain, which has received FDA-510(k) pre-market clearance and is commercially available in the United States and in Europe, is a proprietary MRI software developed by the company. The technology provides clinicians with novel cardiac information to proactively detect, manage and monitor patient heart health, according to a spokesperson for the company, Ahmed Osman. The process takes less than 10 minutes and is non-invasive, and yields a personalized patient heart health report.
“This is important because close to half of all American adults have some form of cardiovascular disease,” said John Funkhouser, CEO of Myocardial Solutions. “Moreover, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.”
The academic study compared MyoStrain to traditional and conventional methods of assessing heart health. The researchers concluded that while traditional methods were unable to differentiate between healthy patients and asymptomatic patients at risk of heart failure, MyoStrain could.
Clinicians were able to plot each patient along a progressive curve, said Osman, allowing them to select patients in need for early treatment while ruling out the healthy patients. “This curve provides a standardized way for clinicians to classify their patients’ cardiac risk and monitor the effects of treatment to prevent worsening dysfunction.”
MyoStrain, and the technology’s ability to assess cardiac risk for asymptomatic patients, makes a difference in patient outcomes, said Funkhouser, because it may give clinicians the diagnostic visibility to identify patients who may be at risk of heart failure before adverse symptoms occur. “Clinicians are able to see the subtle changes of patient heart function and make an informed clinical decision early on,” he said. “If the patient exhibits signs of dysfunction, they are able to intervene early and start preventative treatment.”
“MyoStrain was able to both identify and classify cardiac risk in patients who did not exhibit any cardiovascular symptoms and where traditional metrics could not,” said Professor Grigorios Korosoglou, M.D., the lead author of the study and Chief of Cardiology & Vascular Medicine at GRN Hospital in Germany. “These are substantial findings that could profoundly impact the standard of care in cardiology and cardio-oncology.”
