CAESAREA, Israel, Feb. 07, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Itamar Medical Ltd. (TASE: ITMR), a medical technology company that designs, develops, manufactures and sells sleep apnea diagnostic ambulatory products and related services, today announced  a digital education partnership with CardioVisual to educate cardiovascular patients and physicians on the importance of diagnosing and treating sleep apnea to improve patient outcomes and streamline cardiology practice workflow.

Obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to increase the risk for stroke, sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular mortality. 1-3 The treatment of obstructive sleep apnea has also been shown to reduce AFib recurrence post ablation. 4 The educational program is delivered through CardioVisual, a multimedia interactive heart health app created by cardiologists for both healthcare professionals and patients. Through the interactive app, videos describe the importance of diagnosing and treating sleep apnea and the clinical benefits of Itamar Medical’s WatchPAT™ home sleep apnea testing device.

“There are an estimated 36 million cardiovascular patients who have undiagnosed sleep apnea, putting them at further risk for cardiovascular mortality. Itamar Medical’s WatchPAT technology is recognized within the U.S. cardiology community as a simple and reliable tool to accurately diagnose sleep apnea at home,” said Gilad Glick, President and CEO of Itamar Medical. “The addition of information about the dangers of undiagnosed sleep apnea and the simplicity, accuracy and reliability of WatchPAT in the CardioVisual app will support physicians’ efforts to educate patients about the importance of diagnosing sleep apnea to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. We are excited to partner with CardioVisual’s strong position within the cardiology community to build greater awareness amongst patients and clinicians about the role that WatchPAT may play in heart health.”

CardioVisual is a multimedia interactive heart health app developed by cardiologists for both healthcare professionals and patients. With 2-apps-in-1, CardioVisual is designed to provide a comprehensive digital library of brief educational and curated informational videos of most cardiovascular conditions and treatments. This interactive app provides clinicians an instant resource to better inform patients while engaging them with simplified and trusted information about cardiovascular disease and treatments on their mobile devices. Healthline Media rated CardioVisual as ‘2018 Best Apps for Heart disease’.

“We are excited about the partnership we have formed with Itamar Medical, a leader in home sleep apnea testing.  As a user of Itamar Medical’s Total Sleep Solutions, I believe our interactive app can now help educate the millions of cardiovascular patients with undiagnosed sleep apnea to get tested to reduce their risk of cardiovascular mortality.  The CardioVisual app provides the Cardiology practice an effective and easy way to educate their patients and streamline office workflow with the goal of improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs,” said Manish Chauhan, M.D., Founder of MedicalVisual Inc. (CardioVisual). 

About Itamar Medical Ltd. Itamar Medical is engaged in research, development, sales and marketing of non-invasive medical devices for the diagnosis of respiratory disorders with focus on the cardiology market. The Company offers a Total Sleep Solution™ to help physicians provide comprehensive sleep apnea management in a variety of clinical environments to optimize patient care and reduce healthcare costs. Its flagship PAT-based product, the WatchPAT™ device, is a home-use diagnostic device for sleep breathing disorders. It also offers the EndoPAT™ system, an FDA-approved device to test endothelial dysfunction and to evaluate the risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases. Itamar Medical is a public company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and is based in Caesarea, Israel. For additional information visit www.itamar-medical.com .

About CardioVisual

CardioVisual is focused on creating technology solutions for real and daily problems that busy clinicians and their patients face. Less than 5% of healthcare apps and digital tools are created by healthcare professionals and most medical apps are consumer-focused e.g. track exercise progress, nutrition, or heart rate monitoring, or are poorly designed for healthcare professionals. CardioVisual provides an innovative yet simple tool that saves healthcare professionals time, is easy to use, and provides trusted heart health information to patients. Our mission is to increase comprehension, compliance, and quality of care for patients.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of applicable securities laws. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. For example, when we discuss building greater awareness amongst patients and clinicians about the role that WatchPAT plays, we are using forward-looking statements. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions and actual results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, could differ materially from Itamar Medical's current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, risks, uncertainties and assumptions discussed from time to time by Itamar Medical in reports filed with, or furnished to, the Israel Securities Authority and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as otherwise required by law, Itamar Medical undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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References 1 Mehra R, Benjamin EJ, Shahar E, et al. Association of nocturnal arrhythmias with sleep-disordered breathing: The Sleep Heart Health Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006;173:910–6. 2 Gami AS, Pressman G, Caples SM. Association of atrial fibrillation and obstructive sleep apnea. Circulation. 2004;27:367. 3 National Sleep Foundation. Sleep apnea and heart disease. What is the connection between sleep apnea and heart disease? Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-exper...rt-disease. 4 Shukla, A, Aizer, A, Holmes D, Fowler S, Park D, Berstein S, Bernstein N, Chinitz L. Effect of obstructive sleep apnea treatment on atrial fibrillation recurrence. JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.  Vol 1, Issue 1-2, March 2015. 

Contacts: David Carey Lazar Partners Ltd. 212-867-1762

Eran Gabay Partner Galbert-Kahana Investor Relations and Public Relations +972-54-2467378