FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RITA Medical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: RITA), a publicly-traded medical device company focused solely on cancer therapies, today announced that it has been invited to present at the 8th Annual Needham & Company, LLC Growth Conference, which will take place at the Palace Hotel in New York City. The Company is scheduled to discuss its business strategy and historical financial performance on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Attendance at the conference is by invitation only. RITA Medical will offer a live audio webcast of its presentation which may be accessed at the Company's website at www.ritamedical.com. An archived replay of the presentation will also be available approximately three hours following the live presentation and will be available at www.ritamedical.com for 90 days.

About RITA Medical Systems, Inc.

RITA Medical Systems develops, manufactures and markets innovative products for cancer patients including radiofrequency ablation (RFA) systems for treating cancerous tumors as well as percutaneous vascular and spinal access systems. The Company's oncology product lines include implantable ports, some of which feature its proprietary Vortex^® technology; tunneled central venous catheters; and safety infusion sets and peripherally inserted central catheters used primarily in cancer treatment protocols. The product line also includes the HABIB 4X resection device which coagulates a "surgical resection plane" and is designed to facilitate a fast dissection in order to minimize blood loss and blood transfusion during surgery. The proprietary RITA RFA system uses radiofrequency energy to heat tissue to a high enough temperature to ablate it or cause cell death. In March 2000, RITA became the first RFA Company to receive specific FDA clearance for unresectable liver lesions in addition to its previous general FDA clearance for the ablation of soft tissue. In October 2002, RITA again became the first company to receive specific FDA clearance, this time for the palliation of pain associated with metastatic lesions involving bone. The RITA Medical Systems website is at www.ritamedical.com.

SOURCE RITA Medical Systems, Inc.
01/03/2006
CONTACT: investors, Doug Sherk, dsherk@evcgroup.com, or Jennifer Beugelmans, +1-415-896-6820, or media, Steve DiMattia, +1-646-277-8706, or sdimattia@evcgroup.com, all of EVC Group, for RITA Medical Systems, Inc.; or Stephen Pedroff, VP Marketing Communications of RITA Medical Systems, Inc., +1-510-771-0400, or spedroff@ritamed.com
Web site: http://www.ritamedical.com
(RITA)