Zoll Commences SSCORE Registry of SSO₂ Therapy

September 23, 2024 — Zoll, an Asahi Kasei company that manufactures medical devices and related software solutions, announced that the first patient was enrolled in the SCORRE registry.

According to the company, the prospective SSCORE study is designed to provide further evidence of the efficacy of Supersaturated Oxygen (SSO₂) therapy to reduce heart failure and mortality in patients experiencing left anterior descending ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (LAD STEMI). Additionally, SSCORE will collect data to substantiate the potential improvement in overall health care costs associated with prevention of heart failure versus a lifetime of palliative treatment strategies.

The Principal Investigator is interventional cardiologist Jay Traverse, MD, a researcher at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. The Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital is one of the early adopters of the SSO₂ therapy.

The first patient enrolled in the study was treated by M. Nicolas Burke, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Emergency Services at Abbott Northwestern.

“These patients with LAD occlusion are at significant risk,” commented Dr. Burke in Zoll’s press release. “Opening the artery is the first step, but using SSO₂ to further decrease infarct size is vital. This patient had an acute proximal LAD occlusion, and I wanted to give him the best chance of preserving his heart function.”

Dr. Traverse added, “The focus on reducing infarct size and improving microvascular function with SSO₂ in the cath lab versus palliation of disease is a logical strategy that has been long awaited in this field.”

Dr. Traverse continued, “Persistently high readmission rates for these patients, who often develop heart failure following standard-of-care stenting of the LAD, have been an ongoing challenge for over 2 decades. SSO₂ therapy has shown great promise to alleviate this problem, which improves the quality of life for the patient while relieving the financial burden on the health care system as a whole. We are excited to participate in this trial and look forward to seeing positive outcomes.”

Zoll stated that SSO₂ therapy is FDA-approved and has been clinically proven to significantly reduce damage to cardiac muscle in heart attack patients after coronary angioplasty with stenting. SSO₂ therapy is indicated as an adjunct for patients with LAD STEMI who are treated with traditional stenting within 6 hours of chest pain onset.

The therapy delivers high levels of dissolved oxygen (7-10 times the amount normally found in the bloodstream) directly to the damaged heart muscle immediately after the coronary artery has been successfully opened via angioplasty and stenting. The safety and efficacy of SSO₂ therapy to reduce infarct size, a strong predictor of subsequent outcomes, have been demonstrated in multiple clinical trials, stated the company.