Report Shows Zassi BMS Emerges as Winner in the Battle Against Hospital-Acquired Infections

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. -- Peter von Dyck, president and CEO of Zassi Medical Evolutions, Inc., announced today that his company's patented Zassi Bowel Management System (BMS) has been found to be a valuable tool in the battle against hospital-acquired infections.

According to von Dyck, in a presentation given at the 2004 John A. Boswick, MD

Burn and Wound Care Symposium by authors from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center

at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Ga., the Zassi BMS helped reduce both

urinary tract infections (UTIs) and skin and soft tissue infections (S/STs) by

more than 50 percent. Bloodstream infections also showed a decline.

The authors were reporting on their initial experience with approximately

140 BMS catheters since April 2003. They showed that the Zassi BMS was

effective for the containment of stool; that they had no safety issues even

when the device was used for weeks at a time; and that the staff was

satisfied with the system. The Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors

Hospital is among the world's leading burn-treatment

facilities. The 43-bed, self-contained burn unit admits more than 900 patients

annually and has achieved a survival rate of 96 percent.

According to authors of the study, other advantages noted included

improved patient comfort and dignity, improved skin care and improved

prevention of skin breakdown resulting from stool contact, cost savings

related to supplies, cost savings related to human resources, and better use

of staff time.

"The contamination by fecal matter of everything from wounds, pressure

sores, surgical sites, burns and neighboring medical devices has been a

healthcare problem since the very beginning," said von Dyck. "Until now there

just has been no acceptable solution and most non-ambulatory patients have

been relegated to stool on themselves. The Zassi BMS was specifically

designed and created to be exactly that solution, and we are very proud that

it represents a major advance in the battle against hospital-acquired

infections worldwide."

The Zassi BMS is a catheter-based

system designed by a colon and rectal surgeon to reliably divert, collect and

contain potentially harmful and contaminated fecal waste from bedridden

patients. It was introduced to the U.S. market and certain European markets

in 2003 and has been cleared by the FDA for an indwelling period of up to 29

days.

"I am very excited about these findings (reduced infection rates by containing

feces)," says Zassi chief scientific officer John S. Minasi, MD, FACS. "It just makes sense that the principles of sanitation and

epidemiology that we have learned over the past 150 years would be important

for the especially vulnerable critically ill, who before the Zassi BMS have

had to come in contact with their feces while they were bed-confined.

"Trillions of bacteria are present in each gram of feces. Many of these

bacteria found in feces cause a large percentage of the infections that occur

in hospitalized patients," said Minasi. "The authors have helped set the

bar to a higher level for all of us."

Source: Zassi Medical Evolutions, Inc.