FerriScan, the world's first regulated MRI liver iron test, gained independent international validation against the current 'gold standard', liver biopsy, at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference being held in Atlanta from 10 - 13 December 2005.
FerriScan, which provides a high sensitivity and specificity determination of liver iron concentration throughout the liver, has been heralded as a major advance in the non-invasive measuring and monitoring of iron levels in patients with iron disorders.
Whilst FerriScan is already clinically validated against biopsy, the ASH conference marks an independent validation of the test following its use in a clinical study undertaken by Novartis Pharma AG, a Swiss Pharmaceutical company.
The ASH conference is attended by around 20,000 delegates and will display a poster presentation on Sunday 11 December 2005 which details liver iron concentration measures obtained from biopsy in comparison with those obtained via FerriScan during the study.
A total of 86 FerriScan measurements on patients made at 4 different MRI centres (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hamburg, Turin) using three different makes of scanner (Siemens, Philips, GE) were compared with liver iron concentration measured by needle biopsy. The results showed a high degree of correlation between FerriScan and the invasive biopsy test and showed that there was no detectable variation in the results between the different MRI sites and makes of machine.
In addition a poster describing a new clinical model for optimising venesection therapy requirements in hereditary hemochromatosis patients using FerriScan will be displayed at ASH on Monday 12 December 2005.
The presentations coincide with a review in top international journal 'Blood' published in December that highlights the role of MRI for liver iron testing in the diagnosis of hemochromatosis and a spectrum of iron related disorders.
Dr James Williams, Managing Director of Resonance Health explained the significance of these developments: "These presentations further support a growing clinical acceptance of FerriScan as the way forward for non-invasive measuring and monitoring of liver iron concentration in routine clinical management of patients with, or suspected of having iron overload. We are delighted to be attending ASH this year to demonstrate the improved health outcomes that FerriScan is able to provide."
"Resonance Health is already providing FerriScan at more than 30 MRI centres throughout the world. The ASH meeting follows the company's recent attendance at the annual meeting of the Radiology Society of North America in Chicago where there was significant interest expressed by both clinicians and industry in both FerriScan and the continuing development of our new test for non-invasive measurement of Fibrosis. The presentations and corporate presence at ASH will drive referrals through the growing number of MRI centres being established to provide the FerriScan test."
The company will be providing information on FerriScan at stand 525 at ASH. |
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