BrainLAB Digital Lightbox enhances Olympus Medical’s product portfolio for general surgeons and gastroenterologists

Munich, Germany, November 13, 2008 – Olympus Medical Systems Europa GmbH and BrainLAB AG today signed a contract for the distribution of the BrainLAB Digital Lightbox© to European hospitals. This cooperation underlines both companies’ commitment to drive the integration of digital images into clinical environments, such as surgeons’ offices, meeting rooms or operating rooms (OR).

Digital Lightbox is an interactive, collaborative platform that provides fast and ergonomic access to digital medical information. Unlike traditional hospital lightboxes, Digital Lightbox integrates with a hospital’s Picture Archive and Communications System (PACS) and allows physicians to access and manipulate radiological information like MRI, CT, x-ray, and PET data as well as all types of endoscopic images and videos in a variety of formats in almost any location—such as the OR, an office or a meeting room.

With its multimodality image and data system, Digital Lightbox transforms traditionally static images into detailed and dynamic views, allowing users to extract more value from data for better clinical decision-making to the benefit of their patients. Ideal for collaborative medical environments, the multi-touchscreen device can be installed anywhere in the hospital, allowing clinicians to quickly and easily access and exchange information for surgical planning and collaboration.

Digital Lightbox will complement Olympus’ systems integration solutions ENDOALPHA and will have full compatibility with Olympus documentation (ENDOBASE) and videostreaming systems, offering an interactive platform for DICOM data to general surgeons and gastroenterologists. “We constantly strive to improve efficiency and ergonomics in the operating room. With the Digital Lightbox from BrainLAB, we can enhance our integrated Operating Room ENDOALPHA with a feature that helps to improve data management and clinical workflows,” commented Miguel Angel Aragón, General Manager Systems Integration at Olympus Medical Systems Europa GmbH.

“BrainLAB pursues the objective of providing consistently better treatments to an increased number of patients. The agreement with Olympus Medical Systems Europa  pens up new distribution channels and will bring BrainLAB technology to other groups of clinicians and thus to more patients. Olympus Medical is the partner of choice for us for the distribution of the Digital Lightbox,” said Stefan Vilsmeier, CEO of BrainLAB AG.

With this co-operation agreement both companies show their commitment of working together in order to offer more competitive integrated solutions and to facilitate the daily work in medical applications.

About Olympus Medical Systems Europa GmbH

Endoscopes including Olympus gastrointestinal endoscopes have become essential tools at hospitals and clinics around the globe, playing a vital role in supporting the early detection and treatment of diseases. Olympus' share of the world market for gastrointestinal endoscopes has reached approximately 70%. With its turnover of €1.707 billion, Olympus Europe is the second-largest group company after Japan and employs 4,800 staff. The Olympus Medical Systems Europe company division alone achieved a turnover of €572.5 million in 2006/2007 financial year.

At the root of this success is Olympus' commitment to meeting the needs of doctors for high-quality medical equipment and to improving quality of life for patients.

Olympus offers comprehensive support for medical practitioners, from development of medical equipment for diagnoses and treatments to design of hospital management support systems and other healthcare IT systems, as well as support training for doctors and nurses in using Olympus equipment. Olympus is also focusing efforts on development of surgical endoscopes and endotherapy products in response to the recently increasing number of patients undergoing procedures and treatments using
endoscopes, which are easier on the body than open surgery.

About BrainLAB

BrainLAB develops, manufactures and markets software-driven medical technology that enables procedures that are more precise, less invasive, and also less expensive than traditional treatments. Among the core products are image-guided systems that provide highly accurate real-time information used for navigation during surgical procedures. This utility has been further expanded to serve as a computer terminal for physicians to more effectively access and interpret diagnostic scans and other digital medical information for better informed decisions. BrainLAB solutions allow expansion from a single system to operating suites to digitally integrated hospitals covering all subspecialties from neurosurgery, orthopedics, ENT, CMF to spine & trauma and oncology. With more than 3,300 systems installed in over 75 countries, BrainLAB is a market leader in image-guided technology. The privately held BrainLAB group, founded in 1989, is headquartered in Munich, Germany and today employs 1,000 people in 16 offices across Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America. For more information, visit BrainLAB at www.brainlab.com.

BrainLAB AG
Eva Schuster
Tel: +49 89 991568-312
Eva.schuster@brainlab.com

OLYMPUS MEDICAL SYSTEMS EUROPA GMBH
Viola Rosenbruch
Marketing Communications
Tel: + 49 40 23773-5446
Viola.rosenbruch@olympus-europa.com