ArthroCare Releases Expanded Financial Guidance for Fiscal 2003.

Business Editors

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2003

Company to Discuss Guidance During Presentation and

Webcast at the Lehman Brothers Global Healthcare Conference

ArthroCare Corp. (Nasdaq:ARTC), a multi-business medical device company that develops products based on its patented Coblation(R) technology, today released expanded financial guidance for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2003.

ArthroCare's expanded 2003 financial guidance includes the following:

-- The company expects earnings per share (EPS) for fiscal 2003 to be between $0.30 and $0.36, within the range included in recently published reports.

-- On a quarterly basis, management expects sequential quarter EPS improvement throughout the year.

-- The company anticipates product sales to increase approximately 20 percent in 2003 compared with 2002. This increase will primarily be led by growth in the Spine, ENT and OEM business units.

-- The company anticipates improving gross margin on direct product sales by approximately 3-4 percentage points in 2003 compared with 2002.

-- The company expects to decrease its tax rate by 1-2 percentage points in 2003 compared with 2002.

Lehman Brothers Presentation and Webcast

Mike Baker, ArthroCare's president and chief executive officer, will make a presentation today at 4:45 p.m. ET at the 6th Annual Lehman Brothers Global Healthcare Conference in Miami, Fla. The presentation will take place in the Poinciana 2 room at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.

ArthroCare's presentation may be heard live on the Internet via Webcast by going to the Lehman Brothers website at http://customer.ibeam.com/LEHM002/030303a_byRFD/default.asp?entity=arthrocare

ABOUT ARTHROCARE

ArthroCare Corp. (www.arthrocare.com), headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a multi-business medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets minimally invasive soft tissue surgical products based on its patented Coblation technology. Coblation uses low-temperature radio-frequency energy to gently and precisely dissolve rather than burn soft tissue, minimizing damage to healthy tissue. ArthroCare targets a multi-billion dollar market opportunity across several medical specialties, significantly improving surgical procedures and enabling new, minimally invasive procedures. ArthroCare's Coblation-based devices have been used in approximately 2 million surgical procedures worldwide. The company has developed and marketed Coblation-based products for arthroscopic, spine/neurologic, ear, nose and throat, cosmetic, urologic, gynecologic and laparoscopic/general surgical procedures, and continues research in other areas.

Safe Harbor Statements

Except for historical information, this press release includes forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, the expectations regarding trends in newly commercialized markets, the company's belief that certain surgical products and procedures will enhance achievement of the company's long-term potential, the sustainability of growth rates in certain markets, the effect of anticipated government regulatory clearances, continued success of product diversification efforts, opportunities to execute strategic initiatives, and other statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the fact that the company's operating results will fluctuate, the market price of the company's stock may be highly volatile, the sustainability of the company's growth rate and continued success of market diversification efforts. These and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including ArthroCare's Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2001 and the 10-Q for the quarter ended September 28, 2002. Forward-looking statements are indicated by words or phrases such as "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "believes," "intends," "expects," and similar words and phrases. Actual results may differ materially from management plans.