March 16, 2010 – Princeton, NJ – PeriGen, Inc., the only OB-specific risk reduction company to provide solutions which generate immediate quantifiable clinical and financial value, announces the publication of the largest study ever completed on fetal heart rate pattern analysis, conducted by Emily Hamilton, MDCM, FRCSC, the Company’s Senior Vice President of Clinical Research.

The new study, called “Graded Classification of Fetal Heart Rate Tracings: Association with Neonatal Metabolic Acidosis and Neurologic Morbidity,” was published by Dr. Hamilton together with Colm Elliott, MEng; Phillip A. Warwick, MEng; and Ernest Graham, MD It measures different kinds of fetal heart rate patterns in several groups of women with births ranging from normal to highly abnormal. Until this research was completed, opinions on the association between fetal heart rate patterns and outcome were often based on small studies or simply from personal experience.

With the use of PeriGen’s PeriCALM Patterns technology, Dr. Hamilton and her research partners gathered and analyzed data collected from more than 7,416 hours or 8.3 miles of fetal strips. This dataset included 2,412 women with normal births as well as 60 with very abnormal births, which provides a very reliable pool of data, considering that fetal abnormalities of this nature occur in 1 out of every 1000 births.

“Studies like these will move us beyond the limitations of the human eye and lead a new generation of scientists to find better ways to assess the fetal condition during labor,” said Dr. Hamilton. The PeriGen technology enabled review and evaluation of heart rate accelerations, decelerations, baseline and baseline variability. The study confirmed that adverse outcomes are clearly associated with both the degree and duration of fetal heart rate abnormality. It showed that 88% of babies, who developed newborn neurological impairment, had an average of 66 minutes of abnormal patterns that were graded as moderate or higher while 51% in this group had an average of 25 minutes’ worth of patterns with abnormalities graded as severe.

“PeriGen is proud that its proprietary fetal monitoring technology enabled this study and that its contribution to patient care and safety will have significant impact on the well being of mothers and babies during childbirth,” said Donald A. Deieso, PhD, Chairman and CEO, PeriGen, Inc. “We commend Dr. Hamilton on her work which will have the potential to engender not only new treatment approaches, but also a new standard of care in obstetrics.”
About PeriGen, Inc.

PeriGen is a technology-enabled professional services company specializing in risk reduction and clinical quality improvement in Obstetrics and is the only OB-specific risk reduction company to provide solutions which generate immediate, quantifiable and clinical value. Singularly focused on reducing risk and improving financial performance, PeriGen’s clinical decision support and fetal monitoring solutions are installed in over 100 hospitals across North America. A pioneer in clinical decision support, PeriGen provides innovative solutions and a full suite of complementary professional and consulting services that reduce risk and improve clinical outcomes. PeriGen is a US corporation headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with offices in Canada and Israel. For more information, please visit us at www.perigen.com.
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Contact: Adrienne Kowalski (215) 790-7839 adrienne@karmaverse.com
Sandra Taylor, Ph.D. Chief Marketing Officer (609) 228-8346 STaylor@perigen.com