Prominent hospitals and clinics around the world purchase Acuson's revolutionary new Sequoia ultrasound systems; New York Hospital, Mayo Clinic, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Diagnostic Ultrasound Associates and Massachusetts General Hospital among first 38 orders.

NEW YORK--(HealthWire)--May 8, 1996--Acuson Corp. (NYSE:ACN) announced today that the company has received 38 orders for its revolutionary new Sequoia(TM) ultrasound systems since unveiling Sequoia technology.

Orders have been placed by some of the world's leading teaching universities, private hospitals, community hospitals and private diagnostic clinics, such as New York Hospital - Cornell Medical Center, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., St. Louis Children's Hospital at Washington University, Penrose St. Francis Health System in Colorado Springs, Colo. and Diagnostic Ultrasound Associates and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

According to Daniel R. Dugan, senior vice president, worldwide sales, service and marketing for Acuson, Sequoia technology is revolutionary ultrasound technology that can acquire twice the diagnostic information in half the time from the returning ultrasound echo by harnessing physics in a fundamentally new way.

Using proprietary scientific and architectural breakthroughs, Acuson developed a new way to form an ultrasound image called Coherent Image Formation(a). Ultrasound echoes contain two types of information -- phase and amplitude -- each of which contains one half of the total acoustic information. Unlike conventional ultrasound systems, which produce images based only on the amplitude information, the Sequoia system's Coherent Image Formation uses both the phase and amplitude data to form ultrasound images based on all of the diagnostic information available.

"We are very excited that leading physicians worldwide have so rapidly voiced their acceptance of Sequoia technology through orders and support," explains Dugan. "We believe this unprecedented support is because Sequoia technology will strengthen Acuson's long-standing commitment to providing clinical solutions through system upgrades and reliability on both our 128XP(TM) and Sequoia platforms. We are looking forward to working with centers of excellence like these to expand ultrasound capabilities using the Sequoia system's new potential."

According to industry analysts, ultrasound is second in utilization only to X-ray. These analysts estimate that more than 100 million ultrasound exams are performed annually throughout the world. Ultrasound exams are generally non-invasive and considered safe at the power levels used for diagnostic exams. The cost is approximately half to one fifth the cost of other modalities, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) or nuclear medicine.

Acuson Corp. is a leading manufacturer, international marketer and service provider of medical diagnostic ultrasound systems and image management products for hospitals, clinics and healthcare delivery systems throughout the world. Located in Mountain View, Calif., Acuson had sales of $329 million in 1995. -0-

(a) Patent Pending Sequoia is a trademark of Acuson Corp.

Editor's Note: The following background documents are available via fax by calling 800/713-4833 and following the automated instructions.

Document Title Document Code

Physician Quotes on Sequoia(TM) Technology 1001

Acuson Sequoia(TM) C256 Echocardiography System and Sequoia Technology 1002

Acuson Sequoia(TM) 512 Ultrasound System and Sequoia Technology 1003



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