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I-Flow Expands ON-Q(R) Franchise With Specially-Designed Kits for Larger Incision Surgeries

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ:IFLO) has launched three unique product packages that deliver the benefits of ON-Q, a targeted post-surgical pain relief system, to a greater number of patients. These new specialty kits make ON-Q more accessible for larger incision surgeries by providing tools for tunneling, a new technique for placement of the ON-Q Soaker Catheter, including the unique 10-inch model. Used in a wide variety of surgeries, including those with large incisions, tunneling is a new way to place the proprietary ON-Q Soaker Catheter close to key nerve bundles, ensuring targeted delivery of local anesthetic. In the past, narcotics were the standard of care for pain relief after such surgeries.

"With an emphasis on tunneling, as well as on our proprietary 10-inch ON-Q Soaker Catheter, these new kits contain all of the components necessary for surgeons to provide the best possible post-surgical pain relief following large incision procedures," said Don Earhart, chief executive officer of I-Flow. "An industry first, the kits make it easier and more cost-efficient for surgical facilities to procure ON-Q for larger incision surgeries."

The kits further enhance ON-Q's value to surgeons by expanding its use through tunneling so more patients can experience the least amount of pain possible following surgery, and with little or no narcotics. The focus on tunneling in conjunction with the 10-inch ON-Q Soaker Catheter is based on direct feedback from ON-Q users regarding the best ways to use ON-Q for large incision surgeries, and early indications have been overwhelmingly positive.

"I found that the tunneling technique with ON-Q provides enhanced pain relief, even beyond the significant relief that I was seeing when I placed the catheter in the surgical site," said Frank Detterbeck, M.D., professor at Yale University School of Medicine and chief of thoracic surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and one of the first surgeons to explore tunneling methods of ON-Q catheter placement. "We obviously want our patients to be as comfortable as possible after surgery. With ON-Q, they are more comfortable, avoid unwanted side effects and resume activity faster than if they had been given just traditional narcotics."

Tunneling for placing the ON-Q Soaker Catheter can be used in heart, chest, weight loss, women's, plastic, spine and foot surgeries, among other procedures. I-Flow will make key educational tools available and provide individualized instruction for surgeons seeking to use the new tunneling technique.

About ON-Q

ON-Q is now labeled to significantly reduce pain better than narcotics and to significantly reduce narcotics intake after surgery. ON-Q is a simple yet elegant device that consists of a small balloon pump that holds a local anesthetic (a pain-numbing medicine) and delivers it automatically through a tiny, specially designed tube (catheter) to provide more even distribution of local anesthetic over a wider area, as compared to other catheters, because of its patented wicking capabilities. Currently, nearly 50 studies on the use of ON-Q have been completed and published and more are underway to demonstrate the benefits of ON-Q in additional areas such as pediatrics, chronic pain, wound healing and reduced infection risk.

About I-Flow

I-Flow Corporation (www.iflo.com) designs, develops and markets technically advanced drug delivery systems that are redefining the standard of care by providing life enhancing, cost effective solutions for pain relief.

Safe Harbor" Statement

Certain disclosures made by the Company in this press release and in other reports and statements released by the Company are and will be forward looking in nature, such as comments that express the Company's opinions about trends and factors that may impact future operating results. Disclosures that use words such as the Company "believes,""anticipates," or "expects" or use similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those expected, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to republish revised forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in this release, which seek to advise interested parties of the risks, and other factors that affect the Company's business, as well as in the Company's periodic reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks affecting the Company's business include, among others: implementation of our direct sales strategy; dependence on our suppliers and distributors; reliance on the success of the home health care industry; our continuing compliance with applicable laws and regulations, such as the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the FDA's concurrence with our management's subjective judgment on compliance issues; the reimbursement system currently in place and future changes to that system; competition in the industry; economic and political conditions in foreign countries; currency exchange rates; inadequacy of booked reserves; technological changes; and product availability and acceptance. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or elsewhere, should be considered in context with the various disclosures made by the Company about its business.

Source: Business Wire

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