MEDICAL PROFESIONALS

MET-TEST offers the industry first standardized functional capacity assessment. The first test serves to establish a baseline for each patient and will be used as a reference point to track physiological status for the rest of that person’s life. The baseline assessment defines exercise capacity (Peak VO2) and the mechanism of exercise impairment. The mechanism of impairment in turn guides therapeutic interventions which if correct will result in increase in peak VO2 (10% or more) in subsequent testing:

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Investor Relation Questions

DISEASE MANAGEMENT GOALS

ESTABLISH BASELINE

  • Peak VO2 = Vital sign for long-term survival
  • Mechanism of exercise Limitation --> Guide therapy

INTERVENTIONS

  • Increase Physical Activity; Exercise Rx for Moderate level exercise
  • Optimize Medications: Statins, ACE inhibitors, Beta-Blockers, ASA
  • Surgical Interventions: Revascularization (PCI and CABG), valve repair and pacemakers

SERIAL COMPARISON

  • Increase peak VO2 by 10% or more from baseline
  • Provide positive reinforcement to patient for compliances

With precise serial comparison capabilities to longitudinally track the clinical status of cardiopulmonary disorders with patients acting as their own controls, it is feasible to monitor progression of disease and response to therapy with the intent to improve symptoms and health quality outcomes and to contain long-term healthcare costs. All test results are electronically stored in one database. The data center automatically generates serial comparison reports if a patient has been previously tested at a Met-test partner site.


CPET technology has been available for decades and the majority of academic centers and hospitals in the country have a metabolic cart available to doctors. The test is used primarily for prognostic purposes (severity of heart failure and pulmonary hypertension and timing for heart transplantation) and rarely for diagnostic purposes, even though it is considered the gold standard to determine the cause of shortness of breath (1). This is due to the highly demanding nature of the equipment in terms of the need for daily calibration and maintenance as well as the lack of well trained technicians. If the test is not performed daily, technicians will not be comfortable conducting the study. These issues eventually result in lack of confidence in the CPET data. Even if the test data is collected properly, few doctors are proficient in interpreting all aspects of the data to determine the mechanism of exercise termination. 


In a recent review article in the European Society of Cardiology (2), the authors note that: 

“Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a methodology that has profoundly affected the approach to patient's functional evaluation, linking performance and physiological parameters to the underlying metabolic substratum and providing highly reproducible exercise capacity descriptors...... The full potentialities of CPET in the clinical and research setting still remain largely underused and strong efforts are recommended to promote a more widespread use of CPET in the functional evaluation of cardiac patients.”

ASCENSION HEALTHCARE CME VIDEO

This 40 minute video was developed by the Ascension Health System to educate primary care doctors about the role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing to help diagnose conditions missed by routine testing. The first 8 minutes provide an introduction to the testing modality and is followed by a 20 minute didactic session and 4 case studies.


OUR EXPERTISE

REFERENCE LIST
  1. Balady GJ et al. Clinician's Guide to Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Adults. A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2010;122:191-225.
  2. Mezzani A, Agostoni P, Cohen-Solal A, Corra` U, Jegier A, Kouidi E, Mazic S, Meurin P, Piepoli M, Simon A, Laethem CV, Vanhees L. Standards for the use of cardiopulmonary exercise testing for the functional evaluation of cardiac patients: a report from the Exercise Physiology Section of the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 2009.  
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