Contact Information: Contact Information: Stephen Feldschuh Chief Operating Officer 212-330-8515 stephen@daxor.com Diane Meegan Investor Relations 212-330-8512 dmeegan@daxor.com Dr. Sandra Gilbert Clinical Research Coordinator 212-330-8532 sgilbert@daxor.com
Daxor Announces That Durham VA Medical Center Acquires BVA-100 Blood Volume Analyzer to Assess Obesity-Related Hemodilution of Serum Cancer Markers
| Source: Daxor Corp.
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 19, 2009) - Daxor Corporation (NYSE Amex : DXR ), a medical
instrumentation and biotechnology company, today announced the receipt of a
signed trial agreement from the Institute for Medical Research at the
Durham Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center of Durham, North Carolina.
This agreement will provide the VA Medical Center with a Blood Volume
Analyzer-100 (BVA-100), an instrument which enables semi-automated
measurement of a patient's total blood volume and its constituent
components -- red blood cell volume and plasma volume. Blood volume
abnormalities have been observed in a variety of medical conditions. In
particular, studies have shown that obese individuals show expanded plasma
volumes relative to healthy controls.
Prostate cancer is a relatively common disease, with over 200,000 new cases
diagnosed in the United States each year. The introduction of
prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening has significantly decreased
mortality in the last 20 years, such that approximately 30,000 annual
deaths are now attributable to this disease. Although PSA is not an ideal
diagnostic marker, as it produces both false positives and false negatives,
most American males are subjected to PSA screening for prostate cancer. It
is therefore important to identify factors which might confound the
screening process and create delays in the detection of prostate
malignancies.
Obesity has been shown to contribute to the sub-optimal efficacy of
prostate cancer screening based on PSA levels. Obese men are diagnosed at
more advanced stages of the disease relative to normal weight men. They
are also at greater risk for recurring elevated PSA levels after surgery
and show greater risk of death from prostate cancer relative to normal
weight men. One possible explanation for the worsened clinical outcomes in
obese men is the observation that obese males generally show lower serum
PSA concentrations compared to normal weight men.
Dr. Lionel Bañez, who has a dual appointment at the Durham VA Medical
Center as well as at the Duke University Medical Center, and Dr. Stephen
Freedland of the Duke University Medical Center performed a study to
examine whether the lower PSA concentrations in obese males might be
attributable to an expanded plasma volume, which results in a dilution of
their serum PSA levels. In their retrospective study of almost 14,000 men
with prostate cancer, they reported that obese men did, in fact, show both
increased plasma volume as well as lower PSA concentrations. This suggests
that hemodilution may be responsible for the lower PSA concentrations
observed in obese men with prostate cancer. These findings were published
in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2007;
298(19):2275-2280). Dr. Bañez and Dr. Freedland are now planning to conduct
a follow-up study which may involve up to 1,000 subjects using the BVA-100.
The outcome of this upcoming study may be useful in finding a way to
improve the predictive accuracy of cancer screening methods by adjusting
for hemodilution.
Daxor Corporation manufactures and markets the BVA-100, which is used in
conjunction with Volumex, Daxor's single use diagnostic kit. For more
information regarding Daxor Corporation's Blood Volume Analyzer BVA-100,
visit Daxor's website at www.Daxor.com.