(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 06, 2002 ) Science & Technology International®, STI, has announced it has completed cervical cancer trials in Vilnius, Lithuania. STI is using what is believed to be the world's first cervical cancer detection imaging instrument that is a non-invasive, non-contact and pain-free approach to diagnoses. STI designs, develops and manufactures the HyperSpectral Diagnostic Imaging (HSDI)TM system. To date, STI has scanned 307 women worldwide.

"Thousands of women die each year from cervical cancer, with STI's new modality there will be a way to discriminate cancer vs. non -cancer," said Dr. Katarina Svanberg, a collaborative partner with STI and world-renowned physician and Chief Oncologist at the Lund University Hospital and Medical School in Sweden.

"There were days during the medical trials in Lithuania where women were literally lined up outside the hospital door to be screened," explained Dr. Jody Oyama, STI's clinical director and HSDI program manager. "This was an extraordinary humanitarian effort on our part. We were able to provide much needed medical services for free to women who don't have access to medical care."

STI's medical imaging instrument is placed about eight inches away from the cervix. The patient's cervix is scanned in one pass. Many color bands are collected, creating a large hyperspectral cube of data. Within seconds that image is displayed on a screen similar to a laptop computer. STI's sophisticated software processes the information and determines what areas look suspicious vs. normal.

"We have worked very hard at creating technology that can screen and detect cancer with out the pain and anxiety of waiting for the diagnosis," explained STI's President & CEO Nick Susner. "Most camera systems can only see three colors--red, green and blue. Our camera systems can see nearly 300 colors."

With this new modality, women will not need unnecessary biopsies or endure the anxiety of waiting for the results.

"With our non-invasive technology, there is no cutting, no long wait for results. We can scan a woman's cervix and in 7 seconds. And, we will have the ability to tell you immediately whether there is pre-cancer or cancer," said Susner.

"This new modality will radically reduce the number of biopsies performed today," explained Dr. Svanberg. "Currently, about 75 percent of all biopsies are unnecessary."

"HSDI will provide the physician the data necessary to suggest a "smart directed biopsy"TM, if needed, for cancer detection or give the green light to say to the patient: 'All is fine! See you next year for your annual exam,'" explained Susner.

Why Lithuania?

The medical trials in Lithuania were conducted during six weeks at the Vilnius Hospital in Vilnius, Lithuania. One hundred eleven women were screened during the medical trial period. Previous Food and Drug Administration (FDA) medical trials at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. (1997-1999) involved screening nearly 200 women with abnormal Pap smear results. STI was awarded a multi-million dollar federal contract to conduct Phase II of the FDA trials. Phase III is scheduled to begin the later part of 2002.

About STI

STI is a 22-year-old homegrown dual-use technology firm and incubator with corporate offices in downtown Honolulu. STI is a world leader in photonics, image processing and information technologies. These strengths are applied to the design and development of state-of-the-art systems across a wide array of fields including national security, homeland defense, health systems and environmental monitoring. STI's optical imaging systems can detect submarines, mines, cancer and a host of environmental problems. STI's technology is described by Aviation Week & Space Technology (Jan. 15, 2001) as "perhaps being the farthest advanced hyperspectral imaging system worldwide." For more information about STI, log on at www.sti-industries.com.

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Produced for Science & Technologies International Inc

For More Information Contact:
Linda Jameson
Corporate Communications Director
(808) 540-4727 or (808) 221-3552
ljameson@sti-hawaii.com

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