Itamar Medical Ltd. (TASE:ITMR) is one of the ten winners of this year's Cleveland Clinic's medical innovations for 2010. The winners were announced at the Cleveland Clinical Medical Innovation Summit yesterday.
Itamar Medical won the award for its non-invasive WatchPAT monitor for sleep apnea, which can be used at the patient's own home.
Cleveland Clinic Chief Wellness Officer Dr. Michael Roizen said, “These new devices fulfill an unmet need for screening, diagnostic, treatment assessment, and patient follow-up possibilities in the medical management of sleep-related breathing disorders. These home sleep studies can be every bit as effective as what one would expect from traditional sleep labs."
The Cleveland Clinic noted that, left untreated, sleep apnea quadruples the risk of heart attack and triples the risk of stroke. Sleep experts now suspect that apnea is at the root of many work and automobile-related accidents, sexual dysfunction, and depression. Anything that makes you stop breathing, including sleep apnea, has to be considered dangerous, must be diagnosed, and treated.
The problem is that as public awareness of sleep apnea and other sleep disorders increases, there are not enough sleep centers to meet the burgeoning demand for diagnosis. The introduction of accurate, reliable, patient-friendly, and cost-effective devises meets an important need. An additional benefit is that patients conduct the test in the comfort of their own bed, whenever they want to be tested.
The Cleveland Clinic has invested in or is conducting clinical trials of products of several Israeli companies, including Mazor Surgical Technologies Ltd. (TASE:MZOR), as well as three cardiovascular start-ups Cardiostar Ltd., which is developing a non-invasive sensor for a range of cardiological activities; Sensible Medical Innovation Ltd., and Vasostar Ltd.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 13, 2009
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