Duke Health is first to use MuscleSound in COVID-19 treatments
Denver, April 22, 2020 – MuscleSound®, a Denver based MuscleHealth® technology company, announced today it is offering free access to its proprietary, non-invasive ultrasound technology to hospitals treating COVID-19 patients. This technology can assist medical professionals in monitoring and managing Coronavirus patient recovery.
MuscleSound is the only technology that can rapidly quantify muscle health at the patient’s bedside. The test takes less than two minutes and is entirely non-invasive.
Muscle health contributes to crucial health-related functions, including breathing, metabolism, digestion, blood circulation, immune system status, blood glucose regulation, and overall quality of life. This system of capturing and analyzing real-time muscle health data can assist medical professionals in knowing when Coronavirus patients are declining or improving, especially in ICU cases where up to 20% of muscle mass can be lost within the first week of hospitalization.
“Our investigator team at Duke is thrilled to partner with MuscleSound to revolutionize patient care,” said Dr. Paul Wischmeyer, Professor of Anesthesiology and Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine. “Our Duke research team understands that muscle health is a critical determinant for overall patient health and the ability for a patient to tolerate surgery, cancer treatment and other medical interventions. In fact, this metric is so vital we believe muscle health will be an important tool to measure the overall health of those recovering from COVID-19. We’ll be able to use this technology to assist in understanding when patients are healthy enough to move out of the ICU, off a ventilator, or to the next phase of treatment.”
Dr. Wischmeyer added, “MuscleSound is able to provide critical data in this global health pandemic and we believe muscle health will become one of the next key measurements to qualify: Overall health, readiness/resilience to optimally recover from illness/surgery, and overall nutrition state, similar to blood pressure, heart rate, and other vital signs.”
MuscleSound’s technology is currently used around the globe. A range of clinical and research teams at Duke University Health System have been using and studying MuscleSound for over a year, testing its validity for use in the ICU, Oncology and Perioperative Care (prehab/rehab) and are now expediting research on COVID-19 patients.
“We realize now that MuscleSound’s non-invasive technology can help track a patient as they enter different phases of the treatment and recovery as a result of contracting COVID-19,” according to Stephen Kurtz, MuscleSound’s CEO. “As we are able to monitor recovery, we can see when muscle tissue is healthy enough to begin rehabilitation efforts so patients can return home and resume work and daily activities. It may even assist in assessing when patients are optimally ready to move out of intensive care to create beds for others that require critical care services.”
About MuscleSound
MuscleSound® is a Denver-based digital health company whose software automates ultrasound images, with a core focus on MuscleHealth®. Its technology, when paired with ultrasound, can quantitatively, accurately, and non-invasively measure muscle health within seconds. MuscleSound has received 11 patents and numerous trademarks covering the use of ultrasound to measure muscle health. The company also owns the largest usable database of ultrasound images in existence. For more information, please contact:
Stephen Kurtz, CEO
303-888-5650
Or
Ryan Minatta, Director of Operations
720-244-5923