New Data Demonstrate Safety, Efficacy of Stereotaxis for Patients with AFIB, VT and Congenital Defects

ST. LOUIS, May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Stereotaxis' (Nasdaq: STXS) safety and efficacy in the treatment of patients with complex arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, and congenital heart defects will be featured prominently in the scientific program of the 31st Annual Heart Rhythm Scientific Sessions in Denver, Colorado.  Eight podium presentations and eight posters will underscore the broad clinical leadership that Stereotaxis has achieved in the treatment of patients with complex cardiac arrhythmias. Stereotaxis will display its advanced tools for the electrophysiology lab in booth # 1103.

In addition, Dr. J. Peter Weiss and his colleagues from Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah will present a live case using a non-localized magnetic catheter in a patient with left-sided atrial flutter remotely from the control room of their fully integrated Odyssey lab in Salt Lake City.  The case will be presented on Thursday, May 13th at 10:30 am in the Four Seasons Ballroom 3-4.

ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation is in high demand, with some studies indicating that the procedure is significantly growing each year.  Dr. Arash Arya and colleagues from the Heart Center, University of Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany, will present the poster, "Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation Using Remote Magnetic Catheter Navigation: A Case-Control Study" during Poster Session 6 on Saturday, May 15th at 9 a.m. in the main exhibit hall.

Additional data will be presented by Dr. David Burkhardt and colleagues at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas during Poster Session 4 on Friday, May 14th at 9 a.m. and by Dr. Shinsuke Miyazaki and physicians from Hopital Cardiologique du Haut-Leveque in Bordeaux, France during Poster Session 5 on Friday, May 14th at 2:00 p.m., both in the main exhibit hall.

CONGENITAL DEFECTS

The congenital heart defect patient group is one of the most challenging populations facing the electrophysiologist and particularly attractive for treatment with the advanced tools offered by Stereotaxis.  Dr. Thomas Baurnfeind from the Thoraxcenter at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands will present the paper, "The Usefulness of Ablation Guided by Remote Navigation in Patients with Complex Congenital Heart Disease." This paper will be presented on Thursday, 5/13 at 2:15 pm in Room 102.

VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA

Due to complex anatomy, the sensitive nature of ventricular tissue, and potentially lethal outcomes, treating ventricular tachycardia is a major challenge for electrophysiologists, and requires the delivery of robust lesions for clinical success.

As previously announced, Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, PhD, Co-Director of the Heart Rhythm Institute at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center will deliver a podium presentation titled "Substrate Ablation of Scar Ventricular Tachycardia Using Magnetic Catheter Maneuvering System," on Friday, May 14, at 2:45 pm, Korbel Ballroom 4F.  Additionally, Petr Neuzil, MD, PhD, from Na Holmoce Hospital in Prague, will present a poster with early results from the "Stereotaxis Study to Obliterate Persistent Ventricular Tachycardia" or "STOP-VT" study during Poster Session 2 on Thursday, May 13th at 9:00 a.m. in the main exhibit hall.  

"We are very excited to see the results from two important VT studies," said Michael P. Kaminski, President and CEO of Stereotaxis. "VT is among the most challenging arrhythmias to treat.  There are a growing number of patients with VT and a limited number of clinicians who perform the complex procedure, creating few options for patients.  Based on what we're seeing at several centers performing VT ablations routinely, we believe that catheter ablation with magnetic navigation can effectively terminate a high majority of documented ventricular tachycardias, particularly among patients who had previously suffered a heart attack."

ODYSSEY BROADLY FEATURED AT HRS

An innovative Odyssey Network will be featured throughout the HRS exhibit floor including demonstrations in the Siemens Medical Solutions, Philips Medical Systems, and Biosense Webster booths.  Odyssey will also support a live interactive demonstration of the Stereotaxis magnetic navigation system through a remote VPN connection between Denver and St. Louis.  Customers will have an opportunity to receive a hands-on demonstration of the comprehensive Odyssey Enterprise Solution with its fully integrated, real-time information management platform to integrate, record, and network interventional lab data throughout hospitals and around the world.

"The broad showcase of Odyssey at this year's HRS validates the level of interest building among customers and partners," said Michael P. Kaminski.  "We believe that the combination of our partner solutions coupled with the unique benefits of Odyssey provides customers with an innovative platform that addresses unmet customer needs from advanced treatment to referral outreach."

About Heart Rhythm 2010

Heart Rhythm 2010, the Heart Rhythm Society's 31st Annual Scientific Sessions, will be held at the Colorado Convention Center, May 12 -- 15, 2010.  For more information, visit www.hrsonline.org/sessions.

About Stereotaxis  

Stereotaxis designs, manufactures and markets an advanced cardiology instrument control system for use in a hospital's interventional surgical suite to enhance the treatment of coronary artery disease and arrhythmias. The Stereotaxis System is designed to enable physicians to complete more complex interventional procedures by providing image guided delivery of catheters and guidewires through the blood vessels and chambers of the heart to treatment sites. This is achieved using computer-controlled, externally applied magnetic fields that govern the motion of the working tip of the catheter or guidewire, resulting in improved navigation, shorter procedure time and reduced x-ray exposure. Stereotaxis' Odyssey workstation integrates and standardizes data through a consolidated display of multiple systems, eliminating the challenge of interacting simultaneously with many separate diagnostic systems. The magnetic irrigated catheter is not approved for the treatment of atrial fibrillation in the US. The core components of the Stereotaxis system have received regulatory clearance in the U.S., Europe and Canada. For more information visit www.stereotaxis.com.

About Odyssey  

The Odyssey portfolio of products provides an innovative enterprise solution for integrating, recording and networking interventional lab information around the world.  Odyssey Vision standardizes data integration for magnetic and standard interventional labs by enhancing the physician workflow through a consolidated display of multiple systems and eliminating the challenge of interacting simultaneously with many separate diagnostic systems.  Odyssey Enterprise Cinema then captures a complete record of synchronized procedure data that can be viewed live or from a comprehensive archive of cases performed.  Through its proprietary data compression technology, Cinema enables sharing of live and recorded procedure data via a laptop anywhere over a secure high speed Internet connection.  Hospitals can also share procedures with other institutions using Odyssey Network Connect providing a global forum for defining clinical best practices across a broad spectrum of medical procedures. For more information visit www.odysseyexperience.com.

This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect" or similar expressions.  Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.  Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, continued acceptance for the Company's products in the marketplace, the effect of global credit and economic conditions on the ability and willingness of customers to purchase our systems, competitive factors, changes in government reimbursement procedures, dependence upon third-party vendors, timing of regulatory approval and return of the irrigated catheter to the market, and other risks discussed in the Company's periodic and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.  There can be no assurance that the Company will recognize revenue related to its purchase orders and other commitments in any particular period or at all because some of these purchase orders and other commitments are subject to contingencies that are outside of the Company's control.  In addition, these orders and commitments may be revised, modified or canceled, either by their express terms, as a result of negotiations, or by project changes or delays.

SOURCE Stereotaxis, Inc.