CardioDynamics Announces Meeting of Prominent Heart Failure Cardiologists and Commencement of Pivotal Multi-Center BioZ Congestive Heart Failure Study.

SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 17, 1999--

CardioDynamics International Corp. (Nasdaq:CDIC), manufacturer of BioZ(R) noninvasive digital hemodynamic monitoring systems, today announced a meeting of prominent heart failure research cardiologists was held in Chicago to design and launch a pivotal Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Multi-center Study.

The Steering Committee for the Study, chaired by Gary Francis, M.D., Director of Coronary Intensive Care, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, met to design an outcomes study of NYHA Class III-IV patients. The purpose of the BioZ.COM (Bioimpedance Optimization of CHF Outpatient Management) Study is to demonstrate the efficacy of the BioZ.com in enhancing clinical decision-making, reducing costs, and improving outcomes and quality of life in the treatment of heart failure patients. The ultimate goal of the study is to develop algorithms for inclusion of the BioZ into CHF National Healthcare Guidelines.

Lynne Warner Stevenson, M.D., Director of Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Program of Brigham & Women's Hospital, stated, "The BioZ.COM Study is expected to help define the contribution of the BioZ in ongoing assessment of patients for CHF management. Furthermore, it should lead to development of new algorithms for individualizing therapy in order to maximize the impact of medications known to be effective for decreasing disease progression and improving quality and length of life for patients with heart failure."

Michael K. Perry, Chief Executive Officer of CardioDynamics, stated, "This significant study provides an opportunity for distinguished congestive heart failure researchers to analyze and further validate the importance of the BioZ's technology in the therapeutic treatment and management of CHF patients. Our cutting edge technology is a cost-effective solution that will contribute to reducing the estimated $40 billion spent annually on CHF. Our commitment to clinical research should further accelerate the healthcare community's adoption of the BioZ and establish noninvasive TEB technology as the Sixth Vital Sign."

The Study's Steering Committee members include the following renowned U.S. research cardiologists:

William Abraham, M.D.: Director of Heart Failure and Cardiac

Transplantation, University of Cincinnati;

Kenneth M. Borow, M.D.: President, Chief Medical Officer,

Covalent Group;

Gary Francis, M.D.: Director of Coronary Intensive Care, The

Cleveland Clinic Foundation;

Barry Greenberg, M.D.: Director of Cardiology Program, UCSD 

Medical Center;

Dan Mark, M.D.: Director of Outcomes, Research and Assessment,

Duke University Medical Center;

Barry Massie, M.D.: Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division,

San Francisco VA Center;

Steve Nissen, M.D.: Vice Chairman, Cardiology, The Cleveland

Clinic Foundation;

Milton Packer, M.D.: Chief, Division of Circulatory Physiology

and Director, Center for Heart Failure Research, Columbia

Presbyterian Medical Center New York Presbyterian Hospital;

Dickinson W. Richards Professor of Medicine, College of

Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University;

Rachel Bijou, M.D.: Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia

Presbyterian Medical Center;

Ileana Pina, M.D.: Director of Heart Failure and Cardiac

Transplant, Temple University Health Center;

Bertram Pitt, M.D.: Professor of Internal Medicine, Associate

Chair for Cardiology, Division Chief for Academic and

Industrial Programs, University of Michigan Medical Center;

Marc Silver, M.D.: Director, Heart Failure Institute, Christ

Hospital and Medical Center;

Frank Smart, M.D.: Co-Director, Advanced Heart Failure and

Cardiac Transplant Center, Tulane Medical Center;

Lynne Warner Stevenson, M.D.: Director of Heart Failure and

Cardiomyopathy Program, Brigham & Women's Hospital;

John Strobeck, M.D., Ph.D.: Director, Heart-Lung Center;

Hector Ventura, M.D.: Co-Director, Tulane Medical Center;

Richard F. Wright, M.D.: Director, St. John Pacific Heart

Institute;

James Young, M.D.: Medical Director of Kaufman Center for Heart

Failure and Head of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant

Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation;

CardioDynamics, with headquarters in San Diego, is committed to fundamentally changing the way hemodynamic monitoring is performed in healthcare. The company's primary products, the BioZ(R) System, Portable BioZ(R) and BioZ.com(TM), utilize its proprietary Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEB) technology to noninvasively obtain data on a wide range of hemodynamic parameters.

The BioZ(R) systems are now in use in major medical centers including the Mayo Clinic (Rochester), UCSF Stanford Health Care, (Palo Alto), Yale New Haven Hospital (New Haven), and Baylor College of Medicine (Houston). The worldwide market potential for the BioZ(R) products is estimated to be $4 billion, together with an additional $800 million in recurring annual revenue for disposables. For additional information, please refer to the company's Web site at www.cardiodynamics.com.

Forward-Looking (Safe Harbor) Statement:

Note: Except for the historical and factual information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to uncertainties and risks, which include sole dependence on the BioZ(R) product line, competition from Baxter Healthcare Corp. (manufacturer of the Swan-Ganz(R) device), further capital requirements, and various uncertainties characteristic of companies just emerging from the development stage; as well as other risks detailed in the company's filings with the SEC, including its 1998 Form 10-KSB. The company does not undertake to update the disclosures contained in this press release.