20 EBT Studies Presented At 49Th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in Anaheim, California.

Business Editors & Medical Writers

SO. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

EBT Demonstrates Current Cholesterol Guidelines Failure

to Determine Heart Disease Risk in Women

2,000 Participants Attend Featured EBT Discussion

Imatron Inc. (Nasdaq:IMAT) today announced that 20 studies on EBT were presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting held March 12-15 in Anaheim, California. The 49th annual Scientific Session of the ACC was attended by more than 30,000 medical professionals from around the world.

The majority of the studies presented described routine technology evaluations and assessment of cardiac risk factors relative to the EBT "Gold Standard." Three particularly significant areas of clinical research advanced the frontiers of cardiac measurements enabled by the unique capabilities of EBT.

H. Robert Superko, MD, Berkeley HeartLab, and Harvey S. Hecht, MD, Arizona Heart Institute, emphasized that the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines for determining the risk of heart disease, which are not gender-specific, may, in fact, not adequately predict coronary artery disease risk in women. Nearly half of women studied who were under the age of 55 were classified at low risk for coronary artery disease by conventional guidelines, yet exhibited coronary artery calcification and therefore the presence of atherosclerotic plaque. This result is particularly important from a public health perspective because coronary heart disease is the number one cause of death among women.

Stefan Mohlenkamp, MD, and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic presented two studies reporting encouraging results in measurement of the coronary myocardial microcirculation in an animal model. This innovative investigation utilized the unique cine scanning mode of Imatron's EBT scanner to measure myocardial perfusion. The significance of this study is renewed interest in the demonstrated capability of EBT to accurately measure myocardial perfusion, a critical indicator of heart function.

Matthew J. Budoff, MD, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and colleagues, presented the results of a study evaluating the prognostic power of coronary calcification, as measured by EBT, in a population of patients admitted to the emergency room with chest pain. The patients in the study underwent EBT coronary artery scanning at the time of admission to the emergency room, and were followed for coronary events over the subsequent 7 years. The conclusion of this study, also significant from the women's health perspective, was that the presence of coronary artery calcification, as detected by EBT, is a strong predictor of future cardiovascular events. Those with the highest range of calcium scores were almost 20 times as likely to suffer a future heart attack as those in the lowest group.

According to S. Lewis Meyer, Imatron's CEO, "In addition to the significant volume of these important clinical presentations at this year's ACC Scientific Session, Imatron's exhibit was attended by a tremendous number of current owners and potential purchasers of our EBT scanner. Imatron's exhibit highlighted the recently FDA market-cleared electron beam angiography (EBA) capability, which attracted significant interest from large numbers of the cardiologists in attendance. Drs. Superko and Budoff's studies stressed the importance of the diagnosis of subclinical atherosclerosis, especially in women, because of the widespread misconception that women do not experience heart disease to the same extent as men. In fact, as many women as men, approximately 250,000 each, will die of coronary heart disease in the U.S. in the year 2000. This is approximately six times the number of women who will die from breast cancer this year. The widespread use of EBT in mainstream cardiology could now make a significant positive impact on this leading cause of death in the U.S. and overseas."

Meyer continued, "We are extremely encouraged by the technology comparison studies of EBT and conventional mechanical CT scanning presented at this meeting. EBT's position as the "Gold Standard" in measurement and detection of coronary artery calcification remains unassailable. The credibility of the studies presented based on extremely small patient samples is very limited and, in fact, the conclusions of the studies clearly demonstrate that EBT is the most accurate and reproducible technique for quantification of coronary artery calcification available. There is no doubt that Imatron's unique electron beam angiography (EBA) capability further solidifies EBT's sustainable, competitive advantage over conventional CT technology."

Imatron, Inc. is primarily engaged in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and supporting high performance EBT scanners based on the Company's proprietary electron beam tomography (EBT) technology. Imatron's EBT scanner is now in use at more than 120 major medical centers around the world, including the Mayo Clinic, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, Mount Sinai Medical Center, University of Iowa, National Institutes of Health, UCLA Medical Center, Stanford University, HeartScan Imaging, Cooper Clinic, HealthScan of La Jolla, LifeScore of San Diego, Vital Imaging Diagnostic Clinic, University of Illinois, Arizona Heart Institute, Daniel den Hoed Klinik in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Cardiology Research Centre in Moscow, Russia, FAU Erlangen-Nurnberg in Erlangen, Germany, Zentralklinik Bad Berka in Bad Berka, Germany and Beijing Hospital in China.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and estimates about the industry in which Imatron operates, the estimated impact of certain technological advances, the estimated impact of published research studies on scanner sales and procedures, as well as management's beliefs and assumptions. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others; failed clinical demonstration of certain asserted technological advantages and diagnostic capabilities; reliance on product distributors; competition in the diagnostic imaging market; failure to improve product reliability or introduce new product models and enhancements; delays in production and difficulty in obtaining components and sub-assemblies from limited sources of supply; inability to meet cash-on-delivery or prepayment terms from vendors; determinations by regulatory and administrative government authorities; patent expiration and denial of patent applications; the high cost of the scanner as compared to commercially available CT scanners; and the risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including their reports of Form 10-K for their current fiscal year.