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Guardian Technologies Initiates Clinical Evaluation of 3i(TM) Technology for Medical Applications; Dr. H.K. (Bernie) Huang to Conduct Multi-Phase, Focused Clinical Studies of Breast, Lung, and Brain Imaging

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 July 2006, 09:00 CDT

Guardian Technologies International, Inc. (OTCBB:GDTI), a leading provider of high-performance security and healthcare solutions based on "Intelligent Imaging Informatics" (3i(TM)), today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Dr. H.K. (Bernie) Huang of the Medical Imaging and Informatics Laboratory (IPI) at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Dr. Huang and IPI will conduct a multiple-phase process to clinically evaluate, and provide feedback on potential enhancements, to Guardian's 3i(TM) intelligent imaging analysis solutions as applied to medical radiology imaging.

Guardian believes that many of the core features and capabilities deployed for its security products can be utilized for clinical radiology applications. Guardian considers 3i(TM) ideally suited for many types of imaging applications in medical radiology.

"3i is very effective at segmenting, clarifying, distinguishing, and identifying organic objects, even when they are masked by one or more other objects of similar density and chemical composition. As with explosives, the human body is made of organic compounds. Therefore, it is a natural extension of the technology to adapt the scientific principles employed for explosives detection to medical image analysis," states Richard Borrelli, Guardian's Vice President of Business Development - Healthcare. "Our product development direction will be focused on the areas of greatest clinical need; finding the best pairing of our 3i-based computer-aided detection technologies with the major challenges in clinical imaging."

Dr. Huang, Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at USC states, "Based on their complex nature and the challenges inherent in imaging and interpretation, we have selected for evaluation what we believe are the three key clinical areas - breast, lungs, and brain. Bringing a technological capability, such as 3i, to these critical challenges will produce major benefits for improved detection and better patient outcomes."

Breast imaging (mammography) creates a diagnostic challenge for the radiologist due to multiple overlapping layers of soft tissues of various densities. These overlapping layers tend to attenuate the desired contrast and conspicuity between normal tissue and cancerous lesions. Over 35 million exams are conducted in the United States and approximately 168,000 new cancers are detected each year. Although several companies have developed CAD solutions, approved by FDA for breast cancer detection and classification, Guardian's innovative iterative transformational divergence (ITD) technology should bring different perspectives in improving breast cancer early detection and diagnosis.

Chest exams represent 70% of all diagnostic imaging procedures, but image interpretation of this common study is complicated by overlapping chest structures. Since the chest x-ray is a two-dimensional representation of a three dimensional object, multiple organs will appear to occupy the same space and obscure 3-D anatomical structures. For example, the heart, lungs, sternum, and spine overlap on a single plane making interpretation challenging.

Since the advent of widely available CT and MRI scanning, brain imaging has become one of the most commonly performed exams in the outpatient, urgent care setting. Abnormal findings in these exams are often subtle and difficult to detect, however, properly identifying these small abnormalities can be profoundly important in treating a patient's clinical symptoms.

Dr. Huang states, "Emerging technologies such as CAD are clearly on the forefront of image analysis and hold tremendous potential to enhance early detection and improve treatment regiments, ultimately providing better patient outcomes. There are early indications that Guardian's revolutionary approaches are powerful tools to solving difficult clinical challenges. I am very excited to be working with Guardian Technologies on this project."

"With an aging population worldwide, an increased reliance on imaging for diagnosis, the increased complexity of the images produced, and the sheer economic value of the marketplace, the radiology imaging market sector represents an enormously attractive opportunity for Guardian Technologies," states Rich Borrelli.

About Guardian Technologies International, Inc.

Guardian Technologies International, Inc. (OTCBB:GDTI) employs high-performance imaging technologies and advanced analytics to create integrated information management products and services. Guardian's technologies are focused on two primary markets: Homeland Defense and Healthcare Solutions. Guardian's homeland defense security technologies provide highly accurate threat-item detection at the image-scanning level, and the company's Healthcare Solutions for radiology improve information and process flow with state-of-the-art RIS/PACS technology, and integrated archiving and reporting network services.

About The Image Processing and Informatics (IPI) Laboratory

The Image Processing and Informatics (IPI) Laboratory performs pioneering research and development, trains and educates future scientists, and participates in clinical R & D services related to medical imaging and informatics. IPI is an independent research laboratory and together with its director, Professor Huang, offers a wide range of knowledge and medical imaging experiences to drawn upon. Dr. Huang with more than 35 years of experience in medical imaging, and a pioneer in Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), and related research, offers unique experience in basic medical imaging and applied research.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this document and those made from time to time by Guardian through its senior management are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to the future events or financial performance discussed in this release, based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available. When used, the words "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "project", "should", "expect", "plan", "assume" and similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements concerning future plans or results are necessarily only estimates and actual results could differ materially from expectations. Certain factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, among other things, in particular, the size and timing of contract awards, performance on contracts, performance of acquired companies, availability and cost of key components, unanticipated results from audits of the financial results of the Company and acquired companies, changing interpretations of generally accepted accounting principles, outcomes of government reviews, developments with respect to litigation to which we are a party, potential fluctuations in quarterly results, dependence on large contracts and a limited number of customers, lengthy sales and implementation cycles, market acceptance of new or enhanced products and services, proprietary technology and changing competitive conditions, system performance, management of growth, dependence on key personnel, ability to obtain project financing, general economic and political conditions and other factors affecting spending by customers, the unpredictable nature of working with government agencies and other risks, uncertainties and factors including those described from time to time in Guardian's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation, Guardian's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Guardian expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Source: Business Wire

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