NOVADAQ's SPY System to be Featured During Live Broadcast of Robot...( SPY used to assess the quality of g...),Health

SPY used to assess the quality of grafts during minimally invasive heart

bypass

TORONTO, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Novadaq(R) Technologies Inc. (TSX: NDQ), a developer of real-time medical imaging systems and image guided therapies for the operating room, today announced that the SPY(R) Intra-operative Imaging System will be used during a live on-line broadcast to confirm placement and assess the quality of coronary artery bypass grafts performed by Christine McCarty, MD, using the daVinci(R) S Surgical Robotic System. The broadcast will air today at 6 p.m. EST and can be viewed on line at http://www.or-live.com/PinnacleHealth/2120.

During the broadcast, Dr. McCarty, chair of cardiac surgery at PinnacleHealth, will complete double vessel bypass surgery on a beating heart. Once the bypass grafts are completed and while the patient is still in the operating room, Dr. McCarty will use the SPY System to visualize blood flow through the grafts and in native tissue. Adequate blood flow in the graft and native tissue may prevent the need for repeat surgery and reduce the potential for post-operative complications. Dr. McCarty has been using the SPY System routinely in her practice of cardiac surgery since November 2005. Dr. McCarty will be available to answer questions electronically from the online audience during the event.

Robotically-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgical procedures through small incisions can reduce the potential for some of the drawbacks of traditional heart surgery, such as pain and scarring that typically results from opening the chest. However, small incisions may also affect the cardiac surgeon's ability to see all that they would normally see in an open chest bypass procedure. During robotic procedures, SPY may enable surgeons to visualize the blood flow in bypass grafts and blood vessels and therefor
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