Baptist Medical Center in Florida Adopts Endomicroscopy with Cellvizio to Improve Care for Patients with Biliary and Pancreatic Diseases

PARIS, March 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Mauna Kea Technologies (Euronext: MKEA, FR0010609263), inventor of Cellvizio®, the multidisciplinary confocal laser endomicroscopy platform, today announced that Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida, a leading medical center in the southeastern United States, has adopted the Cellvizio technology platform to perform enhanced procedures in the field of biliary and pancreatic disorders including probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) and needle-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (nCLE).

"Baptist Medical Center is a leading center for treatment of pancreatic cysts and biliary strictures. We currently perform more than 2,000 pancreatic and 1,500 biliary procedures each year. The Cellvizio technology provides us with fast, accurate information about the nature of pancreatic cysts and biliary strictures with very high specificity and safety," said Dr. Jose Nieto, chairman of the Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy Center, Borland Groover Clinic at Baptist Medical Center. "The use of pCLE and nCLE with Cellvizio has changed the way I perform these procedures, and we are very optimistic about advancing this technology for use in other areas to diagnose a broader range of health problems in the digestive systems."

Procedures used to diagnose pancreatic cysts typically include the use of endoscopic ultrasound fine needle aspiration (EUSFNA) and cytology, while procedures to diagnose biliary strictures involve the use of specialty endoscopes and catheters. In multiple clinical studies, the use of Cellvizio has been shown to help diagnose pancreatic cysts and biliary strictures with significantly higher levels of sensitivity and specificity, helping doctors to advance patients to appropriate care more rapidly while reducing or eliminating the need for more invasive procedures to confirm a diagnosis. In some cases, Cellvizio can even eliminate the need for unnecessary surgeries, which are very traumatic to patients and costly to the healthcare system.

"In recent months we have presented new data from a range of clinical studies showing the important advantages Cellvizio offers in the treatment of pancreatic cysts and biliary strictures. We are progressively seeing adoption of our technology by the leading community hospitals and regional medical centers treating a high number of patients with such disorders. We are especially pleased that renowned specialists in this therapeutic area such as Dr José Nieto are adopting endomicroscopy to bring these important advantages to their patients," said Sacha Loiseau, Ph.D, CEO and founder of Mauna Kea Technologies.

For more information on the use of Cellvizio at Baptist Medical Center, view a recent TV report here.

About Mauna Kea Technologies 

Mauna Kea Technologies is a global medical device company focused on leading innovation in endomicroscopy and optical biopsy. The company designs, develops and markets innovative tools to visualize and detect cell abnormalities in real time during standard gastrointestinal and pulmonary endoscopy procedures. The company's flagship product, Cellvizio®, a probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE) system, provides physicians and researchers with high-resolution cellular imaging of internal tissues. Large- scale, international, multi-center clinical trials have demonstrated Cellvizio's ability to help physicians to more accurately detect early forms of diseases and make immediate treatment decisions. Designed to help physicians in their diagnoses, provide patients with better treatment and reduce hospital costs, the Cellvizio system can be used with practically all endoscopes. Cellvizio has 510(k) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration and CE Marking in the European Union for use in the gastrointestinal tract and the urinary and respiratory systems, for endoscopic exploration of the biliary and pancreatic ducts, and for fine-needle aspiration procedures. Cellvizio also obtained SFDA regulatory approval in China and MHLW approval in Japan.

For more information on Mauna Kea Technologies, visit http://www.maunakeatech.com

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SOURCE Mauna Kea Technologies