Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Study Finds Survival Benefit Among Hospitalized Patients Undergoing Definity®- Enhanced Echocardiography

Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. a worldwide leader in diagnostic imaging, announced recently new data from a retrospective, multicenter, cohort study of over four million hospitalized patients that shows similar unadjusted mortality rates for patients receiving DEFINITY® Vial For (Perflutren Lipid Microsphere) Injectable Suspension enhanced resting echocardiography exams when compared with patients who did not receive DEFINITY®. Although the patients that received DEFINITY® were sicker on average and had a higher baseline mortality risk prior to the exam, following DEFINITY® administration these same patients exhibited a 24% reduced risk of mortality over 24 hours compared to the those patients who received only echocardiography without the ultrasound contrast agent. These study findings were published in the December 2008 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

"As the largest retrospective, observational study to date to examine the short-term safety profile of perflutren-containing ultrasound contrast agents, the data highlight the relatively low incidence of adverse safety reactions associated with DEFINITY® and demonstrate a significantly lower risk of acute mortality for patients receiving DEFINITY®-enhanced echocardiograms," said Mark Hibberd, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Medical Director, Global Medical Affairs, Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. and co-author on the study.

source: Lantheus

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