Sonora Medical Unit receives patent fo ultrasound probe testing device

Aug 14 2005

Misonix, Inc. has announced today that its majority-owned Sonora Medical Systems, Inc. subsidiary has received the first of three patents filed for its FirstCall 2000 ultrasound probe-testing device. The patent enforces the FirstCall device's unique process for testing ultrasound probes on site without requiring the ultrasonic system to be in operation.

The Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,920,776 to Sonora Medical Systems. The inventors are James Gessert, G. Wayne Moore and William Phillips. Commenting on the patent award, G. Wayne Moore, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sonora, said, "This patent is especially important to Sonora as it is the first patent awarded to our young Company. Moreover, it provides intellectual property protection for our unique and highly useful device. As a leader in the aftermarket products and services to the ultrasound and MRI markets, we believe our FirstCall device and proprietary technologies provide us with a competitive advantage to better serve the industry."

"Our mission to deliver the highest quality of products and services to our customers coupled with our recent announcement to focus on the ultrasonic medical device market is ably supported by our Sonora Medical Systems unit," said Michael A. McManus, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Misonix. "The usage of ultrasonic medical devices continues to proliferate as a result of efforts by Misonix and other manufacturers. In turn, there is an increasing need to properly maintain the highest level of practice and equipment standards. The estimated market size on a worldwide basis for probe testing equipment alone is in excess of $50 million, with potential customers including every healthcare facility using ultrasound devices. We intend to serve the entire lifecycle needs of our customers by providing them with advanced products for a variety of applications and testing and maintenance systems to ensure optimal performance."

The patent awarded to Sonora for its FirstCall device relates to its ability to test ultrasound probes one element at a time without the necessity of using the ultrasound system. The performance of the elements in a probe dictates the diagnostic quality of the ultrasound examination. Sonora's unique FirstCall device enables clinical engineers, service technicians and manufacturing personnel to objectively evaluate the health of ultrasound transducers. Prior to the introduction of FirstCall, there were only very indirect ways and few commercially available tools to test probes in the hospital setting. Data acquired by FirstCall is then used to make decisions regarding the disposition of probes suspected of being defective and in need of repair or replacement. Early detection and repair of serious problems is far more cost-effective than allowing a mission critical probe to suffer a catastrophic failure requiring an often high-cost replacement. All hospital- based users of FirstCall send their defective probes to Sonora for repair. Sonora is the only independent ISO 9000 facility that specializes in repairing probes to OEM performance levels.