ST. PAUL, MN – March 16, 2001 – Hypertension Diagnostics, 

Inc. (NASDAQ SmallCap: HDII; HDIIW; HDIIU; HDIIZ) announced today that its launch of the CVProfilorä DO-2020 CardioVascular Profiling System is now underway. 
      
"This is a highly significant milestone for HDI," said Greg Guettler, president. "The launch marks our first entry into a new and very large potential physician market, and we have accomplished it exactly as planned. An early, controlled rollout has already resulted in CVProfilor^® placements in a number of key clinics throughout the United States."

The company said its CVProfilor^® placements include the Rasmussen Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Minneapolis, MN; the Centers for Women’s Health at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; SUNY Downstate Medical Center, NY; Erlanger Medical Center at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Chattanooga, TN; St. Thomas Medical Group and Hypertension Institute, Nashville, TN; Early Path and St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center, Staten Island, NY; Williams and Associates Clinic, Cookville, TN; and the Diabetes Control Center, Orangeburg, SC.

"We are using a controlled product rollout to validate pricing, marketing and reimbursement expectations before launching a nationwide marketing campaign to physicians at the beginning of our 2002 fiscal year (which begins July 1, 2001). Following the validation of our key marketing assumptions, we intend to implement our success nationwide. Our plans envision the placement of CVProfilor^® Systems within 25 major U.S. markets by June 30, 2002, the end of fiscal year 2002," Guettler said.

"Between today and our nationwide launch in 3-1/2 months, we plan to introduce our technology to physicians in several key U.S. markets and three medical congresses including the Annual Meeting of the American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) in Atlanta beginning on March 29. The ACP-ASIM Meeting is the nation's largest medical specialty society with membership of more than 90,000 physicians and expected attendance at the meeting should be more than 6,000 physicians and allied healthcare professionals," Guettler said.

HDI will also introduce and demonstrate the CVProfilor^® System at the American College of Cardiology, March 18-21 in Orlando, FL, the American Society of Hypertension Meeting in San Francisco, CA, May 16-18, and the American Diabetes Association Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, June 23-26.

Hypertension Diagnostics, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and markets proprietary cardiovascular profiling systems for clinical and research applications. These systems carry the Underwriters Labs label and the CE Mark of quality, and they are marketed to physicians, other health care professionals and researchers by a direct sales force and via distributors throughout the world. In addition to providing blood pressure values, the systems can non-invasively detect subtle changes in the compliance or elasticity of both large and small arteries which is a unique feature of HDI’s technology.

Forward-looking statements in this press release are made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements and to recognize that the statements are not a prediction of actual future results. Actual results could differ materially from those presented and anticipated in the forward-looking statements due to the risks and uncertainties set forth in the Company’s 2000 Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, as amended, under the caption "Risk Factors," as well as others not now anticipated.

Hypertension Diagnostics, HDI/PulseWave™ and CVProfilor^® are trademarks of Hypertension Diagnostics, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact: Greg H. Guettler, President