American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Issue Report On EBT for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Coronary Artery Disease.

Business Editors

SO. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 10, 2000

Experts Agree On Usefulness of EBT in Diagnosing Silent

Atherosclerosis and Ruling Out Significant Heart Disease

ACC/AHA Recommendations Fall Short of Endorsing Widespread

Scanning With EBT for Sub-Clinical Heart Disease

Imatron Inc. (Nasdaq:IMAT) announced today that the conclusions of a joint American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) report titled, "Expert Consensus Document on Electron Beam Computed Tomography for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Coronary Artery Disease," were published in the July 2000 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology

The principal conclusions of the ACC/AHA report included the following: 1) the EBT coronary artery scan has a very high Negative Predictive Value (NPV) for ruling out significant coronary artery disease, ranging in the high ninetieth percentiles; 2) a positive EBT scan confirms the presence of coronary artery calcium and, such calcium is an absolute marker for atherosclerotic plaque; 3) a high coronary artery calcium score may be consistent with a moderate to high risk of a cardiovascular event within the next 2 to 5 years; and 4) the capability of tracking the progression and regression of coronary artery disease with EBT may prove to be of significant benefit by offering the potential to follow disease progression, stabilization, and possible regression through serial EBT coronary artery imaging.

In light of the hundreds of peer-reviewed studies validating the importance of EBT in detecting early heart disease, Imatron strongly disagrees with the report's recommendation to delay widespread clinical utilization of EBT in appropriate patients until additional appropriately designed studies are conducted. The conclusions regarding "false positives" and the specificity and sensitivity of EBT, are, quite simply, inaccurate and misleading because of the narrow, shortsighted focus of this consensus document on obstructive coronary artery disease rather than atherosclerotic "plaque burden." The EBT coronary artery scan never provides a false positive result when the clinical end point of interest is the determination of the presence of atherosclerotic plaque.

On July 5, 2000, the Society of Atherosclerosis Imaging (SAI) issued a strong and compelling statement supporting the widespread clinical utilization of EBT and challenged the recommendation of the ACC/AHA committee to delay large-scale use of EBT. The SAI, whose membership comprises renowned experts in the fields of Cardiac and Cardiovascular Imaging, Prevention, and Risk Reduction, is spearheading a campaign that challenges the recommendation of the committee.

S. Lewis Meyer, Imatron's CEO, stated, "Although this report falls short of endorsing broad-scale adoption of the EBT coronary artery scan, the report does reflect important and significant support within the AHA/ACC for the targeted use of EBT in the diagnosis, assessment and treatment of atherosclerosis, which is the principal cause of coronary heart disease. The ACC/AHA report lists eight key points that it is in full agreement with, and these eight points strongly support the Imatron business model. The public awareness and medical community acceptance of EBT continues to build at a rapid pace. Clinical evidence is overwhelming regarding the positive role that EBT can play in detecting early heart disease."

Meyer continued, "The challenge to the ACC/AHA Expert Consensus Document is that today's established screening methods are clearly inadequate. Of the 1,500,000 heart attacks that will occur in the year 2000, approximately 650,000 of those individuals will have had no prior indication or symptoms of coronary artery disease -- 150,000 of that number will die. There must clearly be a better solution. The ability of the EBT coronary artery scan to accurately assess the presence and extent of atherosclerosis is precisely the answer to this dilemma. As a society, and healthcare system, we should be focusing our treatment efforts on those people who can benefit most -- those individuals who have diagnostically proven atherosclerosis. Waiting for atherosclerosis to develop into obstructive coronary artery disease is shortsighted and will simply guarantee the status quo -- coronary heart disease remaining the leading cause of death in America."

For additional information about Imatron, visit the Company's web site at www.imatron.com.

Imatron Inc. is primarily engaged in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and supporting high performance electron beam tomography (EBT) scanners based on the Company's proprietary EBT technology. Imatron's EBT scanner is now in use at more than 130 major medical facilities and imaging 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, St. Francis Hospital, Stanford University, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Edward Cardiovascular Institute, Michigan Heart Imaging, Ohio Heart, University of Illinois, Arizona Heart Institute, Alfried Krupp Krankenhaus, Essen, Landeskrankenhaus in Graz, Austria, Daniel den Hoed Klinik in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Cardiology Research Centre in Moscow, Russia, FAU Erlangen-Nurnberg in Erlangen, Germany, Beijing Hospital in China, HeartScan Imaging, Cooper Clinic, HealthScan of La Jolla, LifeScore of San Diego and HealthScan of Plano (Dallas).

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.