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| World Renowned Cosmonaut and Physician Uses Ultrasound to Study the Effects Of Space Travel on the Human Heart |
WASHINGTON, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent survey by Space Today Online
confirmed that Americans support the construction of a space station, with
three-quarters of respondents indicating they want to see men and women living
and working in space permanently. However, as leading cardiologists meet here
at the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) conference to review the
latest diagnostic techniques for examining the human heart, some researchers
question how much is known about the effects of space travel on cardiac
function.
Ultrasound, the best tool to diagnose the heart in normal conditions on
Earth, is now being used to evaluate how the rigors of space travel impact
heart function. Acuson Corporation (NYSE: ACN) recently provided an Aspen(TM)
ultrasound system for a study being led by Professor Oleg Atkov, M.D., a world
renowned Russian Cosmonaut and Faculty and Head of the Life Science of
International Space University in Strasbourg, France.
On June 6, the Space Shuttle Discovery successfully completed the second
assembly mission to the International Space Station 240 miles above the Earth,
where astronauts as early as 2005 may be stationed for months at a time. On
the research aircraft A-300 ZERO-G, which is being used to simulate
weightlessness and extreme flight conditions in preparation for such
habitation, Professor Atkov used the Aspen ultrasound system to evaluate the
cardiac function of crew members as the aircraft underwent space simulation
maneuvers. Digital ultrasound images were acquired while completing 93 flight
cycles at an altitude of 20,000-to-28,000 feet over French airspace using
Kepler's parabolic trajectory (a portion of an elliptical orbit around the
center of the Earth), where gravity cyclically changes from 25 seconds of
weightlessness (0 g) to 15 seconds of high gravity (1.8 g).
According to Professor Atkov, this type of fluctuation places a great deal
of stress on the normal function of the human heart and echocardiography may
prove helpful in determining potentially damaging affects of space travel on
the cardiovascular system.
"I was really impressed with the Aspen ultrasound system," said Professor
Atkov. "For the first time, I was flying with a very sophisticated ultrasound
system, which was not specially modified for the extreme conditions of space
and I was able to reliably capture critical in-flight cardiovascular
diagnostic information with no loss of data."
Introduced in October 1996, the Aspen platform is one of the most
sophisticated ultrasound systems available and is used in thousands of
hospitals and imaging centers worldwide.
"The success of Professor Atkov's tests using the Aspen platform
demonstrates its reliability and high quality, and we are delighted that it
performed so well under the extreme and challenging conditions imitating space
flight on the A-300 ZERO-G," said Samuel H. Maslak, Sc.D., chairman and CEO
for Acuson Corporation. "It is gratifying to see the growing contribution of
ultrasound to scientific research and improved patient care especially under
the direction of such a renowned ultrasound expert as Professor Atkov."
The use of ultrasound in cardiology practice has significantly increased
in the last year, and Acuson has been at the forefront of creating new
technology to support the increasing role of echocardiography in the diagnoses
of cardiovascular abnormalities worldwide.
The Aspen platform is fully-featured for all ultrasound applications
including cardiology imaging, radiology, Ob/Gyn and vascular. The system
includes Convergent(TM) Color Doppler (CCD(TM) Color), high frequency, high
resolution imaging for breast and small parts applications, and Acuson's
proprietary DIMAQ integrated ultrasound workstation. The company's latest
ultrasound advancements, Native(TM) Tissue Harmonic Imaging, Perspective(TM)
Advanced Display Option and MICROSON(TM) High Resolution Transducer, are all
available for the Aspen system.
Acuson Corporation is a leading worldwide manufacturer and service
provider of medical diagnostic ultrasound systems that generate, display,
archive and retrieve ultrasound images. The company's products are used by
hospitals, clinics and healthcare delivery systems throughout the world.
Located in Mountain View, Calif., Acuson had sales of $455.1 million in 1998.
Educational, product and corporate information is available on Acuson's Web
site at http://www.acuson.com or http://www.ultrasound.com.
Acuson is a registered trademark and Aspen, Native, Convergent, CCD,
Perspective and MICROSON are all trademarks of the Acuson Corporation.
SOURCE Acuson Corporation
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