News Releases

06/12/2017

Hitachi Healthcare Americas as Partners with the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute to Advance the Evaluation of Left Ventricular Mechanical Function

MORGANTOWN, WV and CLEVELAND, OH June 12, 2017 — Hitachi Healthcare Americas Corporation and the West Virginia University Heart and Vascular Institute today announced the formation of a new partnership to advance the evaluation of left ventricle (LV) mechanical function using advanced analysis tools that can provide a more comprehensive assessment of cardiovascular disease. Partho Sengupta, M.D., the Heart and Vascular Institute’s director of cardiovascular imaging, will serve as the project’s principal investigator during this multi-year strategic partnership.

The goal of the partnership is to provide evidence that cardiac multidimensional imaging with assessment of fluid mechanics has important roles in predicting non-invasive parameters in the study of percutaneous valve interventions. Vector flow mapping (VFM) is an echocardiographic technology from Hitachi Healthcare that is capable of evaluating the instantaneous blood motion in the LV.

VFM is able to quantify the formation of vortices, quantify dissipative energy loss caused by turbulence, as well as better quantify gradients and regurgitation associated with heart valves and vascular structures. By using VFM analysis during structural heart interventions such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and mitraclip devices, the hope is to optimize and develop an individualized approach and better outcomes for structural heart interventions.

“In an era when percutaneous interventions have evolved to provide excellent therapeutic options for patients, cardiac flow mechanics has the distinct opportunity of going above and beyond traditional echocardiographic techniques in optimizing structural heart techniques,” Dr. Sengupta said.

The Lisendo 880, along with Hitachi’s VFM technology, was developed around the most important needs for cardiovascular diagnosis. “By creating a clinical partnership with the West Virginia University Heart and Vascular Institute and Dr. Sengupta, Hitachi Healthcare is taking an important step in finding advancements in clinical care for our cardiovascular patients,” John Waddell, Vice President, General Manager Ultrasound of Hitachi Healthcare Americas, said.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society’s challenges. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal 2016 (ended March 31, 2017) totaled 9,162.2 billion yen ($81.8 billion).The Hitachi Group is a global leader in the Social Innovation Business, and it has approximately 304,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation, Hitachi is providing solutions to customers in a broad range of sectors, including Power / Energy, Industry / Distribution / Water, Urban Development, and Finance / Government & Public / Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

Partho P. Sengupta is the Director of Cardiac Imaging and Chair of Cardiac innovation at West Virginia University, Morgantown.

Dr Sengupta completed his clinical residency and cardiology fellowship from Mayo Clinic Rochester and Arizona respectively. He has over 160 peer-reviewed publications.

Prior to his move to WVU, he served as the Director of Interventional Echo and Cardiac Ultrasound Research at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of American College of cardiology: Imaging and has served as a Board of Director for the American Society of Echo and as the Chair of the ASE Telehealth and New Technology Taskforce. He has won several excellence awards including ASE's Young Investigator Award in 2004, Mayo Clinic Research Award in 2007, Mayo Brother's Distinguished Fellowship Award in 2009 and AACIO Young Investigator Award in 2010. He was awarded ASE's 14th Feigenbaum Lecturership for recognizing his significant contributions to research in the field of echocardiography. He delivered ASE’s first-ever presentation using hologram technology at ASE's 24th Annual Scientific Sessions . His futuristic ideas, investigative skills and international work have been widely acclaimed by major media outlets and he was an invited stage speaker for TEDMED 2016. He has been recognized as "Top 25 Professors" by TechnologySchools and he was honored by American Medical Association to deliver "Inspiration in Medicine" talk for the year 2017.

WVU Medicine unites the physicians and scientists of the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center with the hospitals, clinics, and health professionals of the West Virginia University Health System. Together, they are a national leader in patient safety and quality and are unified and driven to provide the most advanced healthcare possible to the people of West Virginia and beyond. WVU Medicine includes the physicians, specialists, and sub-specialists of the West Virginia University School of Medicine; the affiliated schools of the WVU Health Sciences Center; four community hospitals; three critical access hospitals; and a children’s hospital, all anchored by a 645-bed academic medical center that offers tertiary and quaternary care. For more information, visit wvumedicine.org.

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