Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham adopts the ultrasound imaging system VeriQC™ from Medistim

(Oslo, July 22nd 2013) Medistim ASA (OSE: MEDI), a medtech company that, in addition to distributing third party products, develops, manufactures and commercializes medical equipment for use within cardiac, vascular and transplant surgery, announces that they have received the first sales order from the UK since the establishment of a subsidiary and direct sales force.

 It is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham that is adopting Medistim’s top model VeriQC, a system used for intraoperative quality assessment of coronary artery bypass grafting and that incorporates ultrasound imaging in addition to transit time flow measurement (TTFM).

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is the leading university teaching hospital in the West Midlands, UK. It is one of the most consistently high performing trusts in the National Health Services (NHS) and has been rated “excellent” for financial management and “excellent” for quality of clinical and non-clinical services by the Healthcare Commission. A range of quality indicators has been developed by the Cardiac Surgery Team for coronary artery bypass graft procedures.

The clinical team at the hospital states that “The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham recognizes the importance of quality assurance in cardiac surgery and the Medistim TTFM / VeriQ C technology offers a significant advance in intraoperative evaluation during cardiac surgical procedures; thereby potentially optimizing postoperative recovery and long term outcomes. With national recognition of the importance of evaluation of coronary artery bypass graft flow by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NICE, in the UK, and European recognition of the value of intraoperative assessment of graft flow in the ESC / EACTS Guidelines on Myocardial Revascularization, the QEHB is delighted to have the ability to add this level of quality assurance to the cardiac surgical program.”

”We are pleased and excited by Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham’s decision to adopt Medistim’s VeriQC to further improve quality assessment and strengthen their cardiac surgical program,” says Medistim’s President & CEO, Kari E. Krogstad. “This hospital is forward looking and does not only recognize the need for blood flow measurements during coronary artery bypass grafting, they also acknowledge the value of adding ultrasound imaging for further improvement of the quality of their work. At Medistim, we are proud to collaborate with the surgeons at Queen Elizabeth, and we look forward to supporting them in their relentless efforts to offer surgery with the best possible results for their patients.”

 

Background
In November 2011, Medistim achieved an important milestone, as the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced their recommendation for the NHS to routinely use Medistim’s flowmeter, the VeriQ, during coronary artery bypass grafting. According to NICE, evidence suggests that routine use has the potential to reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality, and is associated with an estimated cost saving of £115 per patient compared with clinical assessment alone.

The NICE endorsement has resulted in strong and increasing interest from hospitals in the UK, and as a consequence, Medistim established a wholly owned subsidiary and sales force. The long term goal is to establish quality assessment of CABG surgery as the standard of care in the UK.

About 25.000 CABG procedures are performed in the UK annually. About 40 % of these are performed by the 15 largest cardiac centers. About 80 % of all cardiac surgery is performed by the public NHS. In addition, a considerable number of vascular surgery procedures are performed.

Contact
For more information, please contact:

President and CEO, Kari E. Krogstad, Medistim ASA
Phone: + 47 918 38 110
E-mail: kari.krogstad@medistim.com

CFO, Thomas Jakobsen, Medistim ASA
Phone: + 47 906 59 940
E-mail: thomas.jakobsen@medistim.com