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Geratherm Medical AG: The international medical journal ´Stroke´ published convincing results of a clinical trial conducted at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany - Seite 2

exceptional cases which means a considerable relieve for our colleagues
from cardiology.´

This is the link to the online published abstract in ´stroke´.

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/early/2012/08/07/STROKEAHA.112.65495
4.abstract?sid=53a0663e-7a28-4fb7-b841-cb9dab80d5e0

The full paper can be accessed online on the internet page of ´stroke´
after registration.

  
´SRAclinic is well on the way to become the standard procedure for the
detection of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in stroke units. In about 25
percent of all strokes in Germany the origin of the stroke cannot be
identified. A substantial part of these is assumed to be caused by
undetected paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, which increases the risk for
secondary strokes with worse consequences for the patients´ states Albert
Hirtz, Managing Director of apoplex medical technologies GmbH. ´New methods
do not necessarily induce higher costs but can often reduce the current
costs - with benefits for the patients and the insurance companies.
SRAclinic is safe, reliable and a resource-efficient solution, as it uses
data from the monitoring system for the analysis´ emphasizes Albert Hirtz
the economical advantages of SRAclinic.

Convincing Study Results
The objective of the study was a comparison of the two presently applied
standard procedures in stroke units, which are 24 hour long term ECG and
patient monitoring, with SRAclinic in relation to an identification of
patients with previously unknown paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Patients
with ischemic stroke or TIA (transitional ischemic attack) were included in
the study. During their stay at the stroke unit, in 41 from 496 patients
paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was detected for the first time. 14 (34.1%)
patients were found with 24 ECG recordings, 27 (65.9%) with the continuous
bed side electrographic monitoring and 38 (92.7%) have been identified with
SRAclinic. That means, SRAclinic is able to increase the detection rate for
paroxysmal atrial fibrillation more than twofold compared to the widely
used 24 hour long term ECG recording.

Background information to SRAclinic
The fully automated Stroke Risk Analysis SRAclinic, developed by the
apoplex medical technologies GmbH, Pirmasens, for the detection of atrial
fibrillation is already used in the stroke units of more than 30 hospitals
in Germany, France and Austria.
SRAclinic is analysing the ECG data from the mandatory patient monitoring
or from long term ECG recordings. The analysis is based on a mathematical
algorithm which interprets deviations from the heart rate dynamics which
come along with atrial fibrillation. There is also a version for primary