Mauna Kea Technologies Announces Highlights of Third International Conference of Cellvizio Users (ICCU)

NICE, France, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mauna Kea Technologies today announced highlights from the 3rd Annual International Conference of Cellvizio® Users (ICCU).  The meeting included 32 different speakers and 25 posters on the role and impact of probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) with Cellvizio in diagnosing, treating and managing patients with gastrointestinal (GI) and lung diseases.

Cellvizio provides physicians with a cellular-level view of living tissue inside the body during standard endoscopy exams. Over 95 experts from 12 countries and a variety of specialties, including digestive and pulmonary endoscopy, urology, pathology and image processing, attended the meeting, which was held in Nice, France from April 8-10.

"Mounting evidence and clinical experience show that pCLE will change the way disease is diagnosed and treatment decided upon," said ICCU 2011 co-chair Jean-Paul Galmiche, MD, FRCP, Professor of Medicine, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France. "ICCU provided an ideal forum for pCLE users to discuss new findings and draw conclusions regarding how to accurately interpret Cellvizio images, integrate the technology into our practices and manage patients more effectively."

The program for this conference was designed for Cellvizio users to build on the knowledge physicians have obtained from current clinical practice, discuss new major study results and build consensus on image interpretation and best practices.  Attendees participated in the largest interactive pCLE image interpretation workshop to date, as well as a hands-on workshop and live demonstrations at the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco.

"The community of pCLE users is working together to increase its understanding and advance the science of this important visualization tool in clinical applications where we require faster, and more accurate diagnosis," said ICCU 2011 co-chair Prateek Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas, USA. "When using pCLE to monitor patients with Barrett's esophagus, a condition that is a pre-cursor for esophageal cancer, we're able to effectively diagnose disease which can lead to targeted treatment of pre-cancerous tissue during the endoscopy procedure."

New unpublished data were announced at the meeting, including the results of the company's Cellvizio ERCP registry trial designed to determine pCLE impact on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with biliary strictures. The results of a major study investigating whether pCLE imaging helps physicians confirm that they have eliminated all pre-cancerous cells after performing endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) procedures to remove colon polyps and surrounding tissue were also presented.

Results of both trials and numerous others will be presented publicly at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Chicago, May 8-10.  To date, DDW has accepted 33 pCLE-related abstracts, including 11, which will be delivered through oral presentations.

Separately, pulmonologists who attended the meeting are planning a white paper to outline image interpretation of pCLE images in the lung, as well as proposed treatment algorithms.

During the meeting, the company also announced that Jayant Talreja, M.D., University of Virginia Medical Center, is the first recipient of the Yang K. Chen Fellowship Research Grant Award. Mauna Kea Technologies established this program to commemorate Pr. Chen's significant contribution to medical practice, notably his important efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with suspected bile duct and pancreatic diseases.

The company has sponsored 24 training courses in the last 12 months and hosts the ICCU annually so that members of the Cellvizio community can come together to share clinical experiences, discuss image interpretation, participate in training and reach consensus on the use of Cellvizio in routine clinical practice.

"Mauna Kea Technologies has dedicated itself to providing physicians forums through which they can help each other understand and utilize pCLE and benefit from the advantages of accurate disease characterization," said Sacha Loiseau, PhD, President, CEO and founder, Mauna Kea Technologies.  "The outstanding ICCU faculty members once again designed a scientific program to enrich the knowledge and clinical skills of their colleagues in managing and treating patients with GI and lung disease. We look forward to advancing this discussion at future events, notably at DDW next month."

About Mauna Kea Technologies

Mauna Kea Technologies is a global medical device company and a leader in endomicroscopic innovation. The company researches, develops and markets innovative tools to visualize and detect abnormalities in the gastro-intestinal and pulmonary tracts. Its flagship product, Cellvizio®, a probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE) system, provides physicians and researchers high resolution cellular views of tissue inside the body. Large, international, multi-center clinical trials have demonstrated Cellvizio's ability to help physicians more accurately detect early forms of disease and make treatment decisions immediately. Designed to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs within a hospital, Cellvizio can be used with almost any endoscope. Cellvizio has 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European CE-Mark for use in the GI and pulmonary tracts.

For more information about Mauna Kea Technologies visit  www.maunakeatech.com.

SOURCE Mauna Kea Technologies