Feature Publication: PDF "Pretest probability assessment derived from attribute matching." BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2005, 5:26 (11 Aug 2005) . PMID: 16095534 [PubMed]
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Company Background

The Company was conceived for the purpose of developing and commercializing new technologies to facilitate the more rapid diagnosis and exclusion of acute cardiopulmonary diseases in the busy emergency department or clinic setting. The Company has an exclusive worldwide license for its technology from Carolinas Medical Center. The Company has received funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Company Mission/Vision:

To create efficient methods of diagnosing life-threatening illness.
The Company's two major goals are to:

1. facilitate the use of evidence in medical decision-making.
2. develop inexpensive, noninvasive, and accurate methods to diagnose disease.

Product Background and Focus

In the United States, over 100 million people visit the emergency department annually. Approximately 9% of these visits are for the evaluation of chest pain or shortness of breath. Chest pain might signify the severe narrowing of the arteries that disrupts the normal blood flow to the heart muscle, producing a problem known as acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Shortness of breath can mean the presence of blood clots in the lung, or pulmonary embolism (PE). Both conditions are of major concern to patients and to physicians as they are the #1 and #2 causes of sudden unexpected death in young, ambulatory patients. As a result, physicians expend excessive time and resources evaluating these two conditions. Current technologies require the use of expensive specialized x-ray tests that require hours, or in many cases, an overnight stay in the hospital to perform as well as the use of an expensive radiologist. Many of the tests also involve exposing patients to ionizing radiation, or the injection of contrast dye. Over 80% of patients who are evaluated for both of these problems end up with negative tests, creating excess cost in the medical system. As a result, the healthcare system is expending over $3 billion unnecessarily evaluating for ACS and PE.

Board of Directors, Executive Officers and Advisors

Jeffrey A. Kline, MD - Co-Founder, Vice President Medical Director.
Dr. Kline is currently the Director of Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, NC. Dr. Kline attended the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. Dr. Kline initiated his research on the use of gas exchange to detect PE in 1994, and published sentinel work on the use of the alveolar deadspace fraction in conjunction with the D-dimer to rule out PE. This work culminated in a multicenter project that was published in JAMA in February of 2001. Dr. Kline co-directs a 1,500 square-foot basic science laboratory staffed by three full-time technicians who conduct studies of PE in a rat model.

Michael Sinsheimer - Chairman and Co-Founder. Mr. Sinsheimer serves as Chairman of the Company. He is currently President and Chief Operating Officer of an early stage medical device company called EVA. Previously, he was Vice President of Strategic Planning and Marketing with the Straumann Company, in the dental implant market and served in various marketing capacities with Pfizer Inc. He was also President of Integrated Marketing Concepts, Inc., a consulting firm advising healthcare clients in all areas of marketing management and strategic planning. Mr. Sinsheimer received his B.A. degree from Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, and his M.B.A. degree from the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University, in New York City.

Charles Johnson - Vice President, Product Development. Mr. Johnson is responsible for all proprietary software development at BreathQuant. He has over 20 years of software engineering experience most recently serving as VP of Development. for mobile software developer ZFrame Inc. which he co-founded. He is a patent holder to multiple software patents. He co-authored with Dr Kline the scientific paper "Pretest Probability Assessment Derived from Attribute Matching" upon which the Company's PREtest Consult Products are based. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. degree in Chemistry from Princeton University.

Dr. Charles V. Pollack - Scientific Advisor. Dr. Pollack earned his bachelor degrees in chemistry and history and his M.A. degree in the history of science and medicine from Emory University in 1980. He graduated summa cum laude and was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Emory's Stipe Society of Scholars. He then attended Tulane University School of Medicine, and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honorary Society.

In June, 2001, Dr. Pollack became the first Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, and is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Dr. Pollack is chairman of the national Research Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). He is the only physician to have received ACEP's highest national awards in both teaching and research; he also received the national teaching award from the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors. He serves on the steering committees of five national grant organizations and has received NIH, CDC, AHRQ, and industry funding for his own research.

William H. Elam, esq.- Medicolegal Advisor. Mr. Elam received his Juris Doctorate with Honors from the University of South Carolina in 1972 and currently is the principal partner in the Law Firm that bears his name. For 30 years, he has focused on working for clients who have been injured by the negligence of a physician. He has argued over 100 jury trials. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.