Benefits of ON-Q PainBuster Presented at Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
Press Release
Aesthetic Plastic Surgical Institute

LAKE FOREST, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2004--

Study Finds ON-Q PainBuster Reduces Pain and Helps Patients Return to Their Normal Lives Faster Following Outpatient Abdominoplasty Surgery

I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ: IFLO) announced today that a study highlighting the benefits of using ON-Q(R) PainBuster(R) to deliver non-narcotic, site-specific pain relief for abdominoplasty ("tummy tuck") procedures was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery this week in Vancouver, Canada. The presentation, titled "Safety of Continuous Infusion of Local Anesthetic Via Elastomeric Bolus Pump for Pain Management Following Abdominoplasty" described how patients treated with a local anesthetic delivered directly to the incision site with narcotic-free ON-Q PainBuster showed minimal pain following surgery, allowing them to rehabilitate and return to their normal lives faster.

The study, authored by Dr. Daniel C. Mills of the Aesthetic Plastic Surgical Institute, Inc., involved patients who received post-surgical pain relief with ON-Q PainBuster, specifically the ON-Q ONDemand(R) Pump, which delivers a continuous infusion and allows the patient to self-administer an additional bolus of anesthetic as needed. ON-Q PainBuster patients reported that they experienced minimal pain, required less narcotics and returned to activities of normal life quicker and it was noted that they had no infections.

"Performing an abdominal cosmetic surgery procedure in the outpatient setting has been shown to be more comfortable and less expensive for the patient, while providing flexibility for the physician. However, when patients have to be admitted to the hospital following outpatient surgery, up to 95 percent of the time it is for pain management reasons," said Dr. Mills. "ON-Q PainBuster provides a safe, effective, narcotic-free method of relieving post-surgical pain following ambulatory abdominoplasty and enables patients to engage in physical activity earlier in their recovery so they can return to their normal lives faster."

"Over the past five years, the number of cosmetic surgeries in this country has more than doubled, establishing plastic surgery as one of the fastest growing surgical fields today," said Donald M. Earhart, president and CEO of I-Flow Corporation. "Dr. Mills' study clearly demonstrates the benefits of ON-Q PainBuster to relieve post-surgical pain without the customary side effects of narcotics. As a result, patients get out of the hospital and back to normal sooner. We believe that it is key for plastic surgeons to see the proven benefits that ON-Q PainBuster can provide to patients and physicians in an outpatient setting."

About ON-Q PainBuster

The ON-Q PainBuster is a simple yet elegant device that consists of a small, high-tech balloon pump that holds a local anesthetic (a pain-numbing medicine) and delivers it through a tiny, specially-designed tube (catheter) directly into the surgical site. The proprietary ON-Q Soaker(TM) Catheter is designed to provide more even distribution of local anesthetic over a wider area, as compared to a fenestrated catheter, because of its patented wicking capabilities.

ON-Q PainBuster delivers narcotic-free pain relief for many surgeries, including: cesarean sections, hysterectomies, knee replacements, mastectomies, cardio-vascular/thoracic surgeries, foot and ankle surgeries and many cosmetic surgeries. ON-Q PainBuster helps patients avoid the side effects of narcotics so they can get back to their normal lives faster. Currently, 30 studies on the use of ON-Q have been completed and published and more are underway to demonstrate the benefits of ON-Q in additional areas such as pediatrics and wound healing.