Contact: Deborah Kaufman/Mathew Cabot

Fischer & Partners, Inc.   310-577-7870

INTUITIVE SURGICAL AND BROUSSAIS HOSPITAL ANNOUNCE THE WORLD'S FIRST COMPUTER-ENHANCED OPEN HEART OPERATIONS

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF., & PARIS, FRANCE May 21, 1998. Earlier today at a press conference in Paris, Professor Alain Carpentier announced the successful completion of six minimally invasive open heart surgery procedures on patients using the Intuitive Surgical computer-enhanced surgery system.

Starting on May 7, Professor Carpentier and Dr. Didier Loulmet of the Broussais Hospital in Paris performed six open heart surgeries using the Intuitiveô system. Broussais Hospital, Europe's first cardiac surgery department, is renown for performing Europe's first successful heart transplant and aortic aneurysm repair procedures. This facility is also recognized as a world leader in the development of advanced valvuloplasty techniques.

Professor Carpentier and Dr. Loulmet performed all or part of six open heart surgery procedures with the Intuitive system:

• atrial septal defect repair
• commissurotomy and prosthetic ring annuloplasty
• papillary muscle shortening
• coronary artery bypass surgery

Carpentier described his experience performing surgery with the Intuitive system as a major advance in minimally invasive technique, and commented that "the Intuitive system will bring minimally invasive cardiac surgery another step forward. This technology brings something not available in the past: much better visualization and more precise maneuvers of instruments inside the heart."

Commenting on the clinical study results, Dr. Fred Moll, founder and Medical Director of Intuitive Surgical said, "This is a key milestone for Intuitive Surgical. We're proud to unveil the technology that made it possible to perform the world's very first computer-enhanced open heart operations."

About the Intuitive^TM System

Intuitive is developing a computer-enhanced minimally invasive surgery system that uses proprietary electronics, advanced robotics, and enhanced visualization to greatly improve surgical technique and take surgical precision far beyond what is possible today.

The Intuitive system is a new surgical technology intended to eliminate the major obstacles to widespread adoption of minimally invasive surgery. It is designed to transform a broad range of open procedures to minimally invasive procedures by making MIS more precise and easier to perform.

Using state-of-the-art computing, sophisticated software and highly-specialized micro-surgical instruments, the Intuitive system combines the natural hand movements used in traditional open surgery, with the less traumatic approach of minimally invasive surgery -- thereby delivering the best of both techniques.

The Intuitive system consists of two primary components: the surgeon's viewing and control console and the surgical arm unit that positions and maneuvers detachable surgical instruments. These pencil-sized instruments with EndoWrist^TM technology (tiny

computer-enhanced mechanical wrists) designed to provide the dexterity of the surgeon's forearm and wrist at the operative site through 1 cm ports.

Using the Intuitive system, surgeons will perform procedures seated at the console, while viewing a high-resolution 3-D video image of the surgical field. The surgeon's hands rest below the monitor and hold instruments that provide the flexibility of those used in open surgery. Highly-specialized technology simultaneously transfers the surgeon's exact hand movements made at the console to precise microsurgical movements of the instruments at the operative site.

Intuitive Surgical Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., was founded in 1995 to pioneer the development of new minimally invasive surgical instrumentation and techniques. The company is in the process of applying to the FDA for approval to market the Intuitive system commercially in the U.S.

Intuitive^TM and EndoWrist^TM are trademarks of Intuitive Surgical Inc.

Intuitive Surgical System