SAN DIEGO, March 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Accumetrics, Inc., a privately-held developer and marketer of the VerifyNow(R) System, the first rapid and easy-to-use point-of-care system for measuring platelet reactivity to multiple antiplatelet agents, announced today that new Guidelines were recently published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery that include point-of-care testing for platelet reactivity as a new recommendation for preoperative patient assessment(1).

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients on antiplatelet drugs have an increased risk of excessive perioperative bleeding. Clopidogrel (Plavix(R)) is often discontinued for 5-7 days before surgery to reduce this bleeding risk. Due to the considerable variability in patient response to clopidogrel, the Guidelines recommend point-of-care testing to "identify clopidogrel non-responders, who are candidates for early operative coronary revascularization and who may not require a preoperative waiting period after clopidogrel discontinuation."

The VerifyNow P2Y12 Test allows clinicians to measure the actual level of platelet reactivity in patients who have taken P2Y12 inhibitors (e.g. Plavix) and who have discontinued them prior to surgery. By integrating this information with other clinical data, clinicians are able to make more informed decisions regarding a patient's treatment and surgery schedule in their efforts to minimize bleeding risk and maximize patient safety.

"As the Guidelines recommend, it is very important to know which patients are at risk of bleeding," stated Dr. Alex Zapolanski, Cardiac Surgery Director at The Valley Heart & Vascular Institute in Ridgewood, NJ. "We use the VerifyNow P2Y12 Test as a key piece of data to help us decide when a patient can be taken to surgery. We have found by incorporating the test into our practice that we have been able to reduce the average pre-surgical patient length of stay by 3 days, resulting in significant cost savings."

"Accumetrics applauds the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists for the inclusion of point-of-care platelet reactivity testing as a new recommendation in the Blood Conservation Guidelines to improve outcomes and patient safety," said Timothy I. Still, President and CEO of Accumetrics. "Cardiac surgery, interventional cardiology and clinical cardiology are all segments in the continuum of cardiovascular patient care where the VerifyNow System provides valuable data to healthcare professionals."

The VerifyNow System is widely used in various clinical settings where antiplatelet medications are prescribed to reduce the occurrence of future thrombotic events such as heart attack and stroke.

(1) Ferraris VA, Brown JR, Despotis GJ, Hammon JW, Reece TB, Saha SP, Song HK, Clough ER, Shore-Lesserson LJ, Goodnough LT, Mazer CD, Shander A, Stafford-Smith M, Waters J, Baker RA, Dickinson TA, Fitzgerald DJ, Likosky DS, Shann KG. 2011 Update to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Blood Conservation Clinical Practice Guidelines. Ann Thorac Surg. 2011 Mar;91(3):944-82.