EchoCath Announces Portable Blood-velocity Measuring System.

Business Editors

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2001

EchoCath, Inc. (NASD-OTC-BB-ECHTA)--The President of EchoCath, Inc., Frank DeBernardis, announced today at the Third Annual Gargiulo Health Care Conference in New York plans to market a portable version of the Company's EchoFlow(TM) system to measure blood-velocity.

The EchoFlow device has been the subject of clinical evaluations in 12 leading medical centers in the U.S., with major interest for use in dialysis-access-graft surveillance and for intra-operative vessel assessment.

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] Mr. DeBernardis said, "Our clinical investigators asked for a portable version of the operating-room system, one they could carry with them. Our engineers responded by shrinking the system from 70 pounds to two pounds, putting the key functions of the research-oriented system in a hand-held box." He added he expected the new system to be available for shipment in the spring of this year.

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] Mr. DeBernardis also reported on the Company's participation in the Third International Conference on Dialysis, January 18th and 19th in Miami, Florida, where key researchers in the dialysis field met to discuss developments. "The EchoFlow instrument was the subject of the Dialysis Times newsletter article on Emerging Technology which was distributed at the meeting as well as mailed to 8,000 nephrologists world-wide. "Based on the early results of using the EchoFlow instrument for dialysis access graft surveillance at Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Renal Research Institute in New York, we are meeting with prospective clinical investigators to enroll them in a multi-center clinical protocol to demonstrate the utility of the technology," Frank DeBernardis stated. He added, "We intend to show that the EchoFlow system is a cost-effective, easy-to-use technology that enables dialysis centers to monitor the performance of access grafts to determine the need for early intervention to maintain graft patency." Dialysis access graft related problems are estimated to cost the health-care delivery system over $1 billion per year.

Mr. DeBernardis also reported on the response to the Company's exhibition of the EchoFlow system at the 25th Annual Meeting of The Southern Association for Vascular Surgery on January 24th - 27th in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Vascular surgeons at this meeting expressed interest in developing a protocol that would be used in a multi-center trial focused on demonstrating the benefits of the EchoFlow technology to provide intra-operative assessment of vessel by-pass procedures. Frank DeBernardis stated, "Intra-operative use of the EchoFlow System has been the interest of many of our clinical sites to determine a cost-effective means of assessing vessel conditions during by-pass surgery. The vascular surgeon can simply touch the vessel with the tip of the EchoFlow probe to accurately measure blood velocity, an indication of vessel health. Measurements can be taken before and after procedures to determine the section to be by-passed, and to assess the effectiveness of the procedure. The Company is working with leading surgeons to develop a protocol that will be used in a multi-center demonstration of the system's benefits in these procedures. Currently surgeons use pen Doppler probes and or duplex ultrasound systems for this purpose. The EchoFlow provides a numerical measurement of blood flow velocity, which is not available from continuous wave pen Doppler probes and does not require the use of expensive duplex ultrasound systems that require a specially trained technologist to operate."

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] Mr. DeBernardis summarized, "We are building a strong clinical foundation for applications for our EchoFlow Technology. Our focus for direct selling is the vascular surgeon for intra-operative vascular applications. We are seeking corporate partners for intra-operative cardiac, dialysis, critical care and implantable market arenas."

Mr. DeBernardis also announced that the Company has been granted a fifth patent on its diffraction-grating technology used in EchoFlow systems. "This patent, 6,176,829, Multi-Beam Diffraction Grating Imager Apparatus and Method, shows how to use our technology to produce real-time, three-dimensional imaging; we will continue to explore this and other technological expansions of our technology."

Certain statements in this Press Release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results or legal outcomes to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from such statements as a result of a variety of factors including unanticipated delays in bringing products to market, market conditions, and competitive responses as well as other factors referred to by EchoCath in its Annual Report on Form 10K for the year ended August 31, 2000 and the interim quarterly reports on Form 10Q.