"Potential Game-Changing" Confocal Technology Opening Eyes.

MONTVALE, N.J. -- Everyone knows screening endoscopy is today's current standard of practice for detecting pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions of the colon. Yet, even with cutting-edge advances in high-definition resolution scopes, detection of flat or intraepithelial neoplasms (by their sheer nature) in general screening endoscopy procedures is difficult. PENTAX Medical's emerging Confocal Endomicroscopy technology, however, is showing great promise in possibly one day erasing some of that difficulty.

PENTAX's confocal breakthroughs fuse the world of endoscopy and confocal microscopy. To create confocal images, blue laser light is focused on the desired tissue via the distal end of an endoscope equipped with a special confocal optical unit. Applied fluorescent materials are excited by laser lights which the confocal optical unit detects in an exactly defined horizontal level. This produces high-resolution microscopic structures down to the size of the cell nucleus.

"This is potentially a game-changing technology," said Dr. Gary Falk, M.D., M.S., a professor of medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the renowned Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. "The technology has considerable promise to potentially decrease the number of biopsies we obtain in the future."

Dr. Falk recently began exploring the PENTAX confocal technology as a potential novel approach to surveillance of patients with Barrett's Esophagus. Impressed with its potential after putting the technology to the test, Falk cautiously - yet optimistically - is hopeful for confocal technology despite an obvious "learning curve" since most gastroenterologists are trained to decipher diagnostic surface images rather than the histological type being provided by the confocal endomicroscope.

Another renowned endoscopy opinion leader, Dr. William Brugge, M.D., of Massachusetts's General Hospital, shared Dr. Falk's enthusiasm for the potential of the PENTAX confocal technology.

"We are seeing imaging details like we have never before," stated Dr. Brugge. "We actually saw H. pylori in a live demonstration of confocal's capabilities. Certainly, we know those organisms are there, but we've never seen them live in a procedure with an endoscope before. It was amazing."

Dr. Brugge too shares the need for cautious optimism, but as experience is gained with the confocal technology, the potential future applications of the breakthrough imaging technology for looking beneath the surface has already impressively raised a number of eyebrows.

For more information on PENTAX's confocal endomicroscopic technologies, visit the company's website at www.pentaxmedical.com or call toll-free 1.800.431.5880.

About PENTAX Medical

Headquartered in Montvale, NJ, PENTAX Medical Company is a division of PENTAX of America, Inc., a consolidated subsidiary of HOYA Corporation. PENTAX Medical Company is an industry leader specializing in the development of video and fiber endoscopy equipment and computer technology/imaging products for diagnostic, therapeutic and research applications in the GI, ENT and Pulmonary medical fields. For more information on the company and its products, visit the company's website at www.pentaxmedical.com.

To schedule an interview or for further information, please contact Ann Marie Connolly-Garcia, Marketing Director, by email at [e-mail] or by telephone at 1-800-431-5880.

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic, located in Cleveland, Ohio, is a not-for-profit, multi-specialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation, Cleveland Clinic has become one of the largest and most respected hospitals in the country.

Cleveland Clinic facilities can be found throughout Northeast Ohio, as well as, around the country and world. Cleveland Clinic Health System is comprised of nine community hospitals and three affiliate hospitals and is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the nation's largest accreditor of healthcare organizations.

For more information, visit www.clevelandclinic.org.

About the Gastrointestinal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital 

The Gastrointestinal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital is a multi-faceted department which includes a large clinical healthcare center, many research laboratories and various training programs for clinicians.

At the MGH Digestive Healthcare Center, the most respected and accomplished physicians and surgeons in the world come together from areas of gastroenterology, endoscopy, surgery, radiology and oncology to provide the best care possible. The specialists here employ the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic tools available anywhere in the world to ensure the best outcome for each patient. Working closely with a dedicated staff that includes technologists, nurses, nutritionists and more, our care is unsurpassed with the kind of quality and compassion you can expect from a worldwide leader in health.

For more information, visit www. www.massgeneral.org.