NORWALK, Conn., Sept. 26, 1995 -- United States Surgical Corporation (NYSE: USS) announced that a French surgical team has successfully completed the first minimally invasive coronary bypass operation performed in France using USSC instruments.

The surgeons, Professor Iradj Gandjbakhch and Dr. Patrick Nataf of the prestigious cardio-vascular department of La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, developed this technique at USSC's training and research center in Elancourt, outside Paris. Additional instruments for this technique are in the process of being developed with USSC.

Instead of operating through the usual 8- to 12-inch incision, the surgeons operated through two half-inch trocars inserted between the ribs, which eliminates the necessity for cracking these ribs, and a two-inch chest incision. The procedure, which took only three-and-a- half hours, was performed without stopping the patient's heart, the usual practice in coronary bypass surgery. Using the new technique, the surgeons were able to eliminate the use of a heart/lung bypass machine, and the complications and significant costs associated with blood perfusion.

The patient, a 50-year-old man, is doing very well and was discharged five days after surgery. Although the patient was up and walking around the hallways just two days after surgery and could have been discharged much earlier, the doctors held him for observation because he was their first patient using the new technique.

Leon C. Hirsch, Chairman of USSC, said, "This approach is a major breakthrough in the area of minimally invasive surgery. It's significant for two reasons:

First, because it can ultimately benefit hundreds of thousands of coronary bypass patients each year, and second, because it significantly reduces the costs connected with coronary bypass surgery.

"This new procedure is the third major development in minimally invasive bypass surgery utilizing USSC's products in recent months. In July, Drs. Carlos Gracia and Yves Dion completed the first aortic bypass procedure ever to be performed entirely through minimally invasive incisions at San Ramon Regional Medical Center in California. A few days later, Dr. Samuel Ahn performed a similar procedure using the totally minimally invasive approach at UCLA Center for Health Sciences in Los Angeles."

United States Surgical Corporation is the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of surgical staplers, the innovative leader in the expanding field of minimally invasive surgery and a growing participant in the suture market.

CONTACT: Marianne Scipione, Vice President Corporate Communications of US Surgical Corp., 203-845-1404