New Test Helps Detect Silent Heart Disease



Results from the latest clinical trial utilizing VENDYS, the new FDA-approved cardiovascular test, will be presented during the 2008 annual conference of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago. The trial is the first study to show that temperature changes at the fingertips can help detect hidden heart disease.

VENDYS is a non-invasive test that measures vascular function by monitoring temperature changes at the fingertips during and after a brief arm-cuff occlusion procedure.

"We now have hundreds of patients studied at our center with VENDYS and the results have consistently shown strong correlation between low fingertip thermal reactivity and high burden of cardiovascular disease. The lower the temperature, the more coronary plaque buildup and blockage," said Dr. Matthew Budoff, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Cardiac CT Laboratory at Harbor UCLA. "This is truly amazing! As a dynamic marker of vascular disease, VENDYS can fill the gap between risk factor measurements and advanced imaging tests such as CTA and MRI."

Researchers at Harbor UCLA examined patients with VENDYS before they underwent coronary CT angiography and a thallium nuclear scan. The study showed that those with coronary blockage and abnormal scan results often had low fingertip temperature reactivity. Dr. Budoff and colleagues also studied apparently healthy individuals with a family history of heart disease or with other cardiovascular risk factors. They discovered that the lower the fingertip thermal reactivity, the higher the chance of having a coronary blockage or calcium score 100 -both of which would place these individuals at a high risk of a future heart attack.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not only America's number one killer (more than one million deaths each year) but also the most expensive disease (more than $300 billion per year).

Current methods for screening and early detection of CVD include blood tests for measurement of traditional risk factors (such as high cholesterol) or advanced, non-invasive imaging techniques such as CAT scan and MRI. While traditional risk factors are long-term predictors of future CVD, they do not measure the state of an individual's vascular health. Moreover, advanced imaging modalities pose both health (e.g. radiation) and significant cost barriers and therefore cannot be used repeatedly (weekly or monthly).

"Endothelix is striving to bring a comprehensive cardiovascular risk assessment solution to doctors' offices that is simple, inexpensive, and operator independent," said Dr. Morteza Naghavi, Chairman of Endothelix Scientific Advisory Board. "By incorporating such a comprehensive platform into primary care, we wish to enable practicing family physicians to serve their patients as preventive cardiologists do."

Endothelix will exhibit the VENDYS technology during the 2008 American College of Cardiology Expo in Chicago, to be held March 30th - April 1st. Leading cardiology investigators who conducted VENDYS studies will be available at the Endothelix booth to discuss the recent clinical findings and the utility of the VENDYS test in cardiovascular screening and management of patients with coronary heart disease.

Sunday, March 30th 10:30am -- 11:30am Matthew Budoff, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Cardiac CT Laboratory, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Sunday, March 30th 11:30am -- 12:30pm Harvey Hecht, M.D., Director of Cardiovascular CT Laboratory, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY

Monday, March 31st 10:00am -- 10:30am Roxana Mehran, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center and Director of Clinical Research at Cardiovascular Research Foundation, New York, NY

Monday, March 31st 12:00noon -- 1:00pm Morteza Naghavi, M.D., Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, Endothelix Inc., Houston, TX

Tuesday, April 1st 1:00pm -- 1:30pm Daniel Berman, M.D., Professor of Medicine at UCLA and Director of Nuclear Cardiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

About Endothelix

Endothelix is based in Houston, Texas. The company is positioned as the first to incorporate non-invasive, non-imaging vascular and neurovascular function monitoring technologies into the existing risk factor based assessment of cardiovascular risk. Endothelix aims to help physicians more accurately monitor their patients' cardiovascular health and use appropriate therapies for the prevention and treatment of heart attack and stroke. The company executives are available for Q&A.

Frank Gerome - Chief Executive Officer Phone: 972 839 2128

Craig Jamieson -- VP of Business Development Phone: 713 529 2599

Visit www.endothelix.com for more information.





New Test Helps Detect Silent Heart Disease