CryoLife Hosts Worldwide Surgical Congress for the Ross...( Surgical Congress to focus on new p...)

Surgical Congress to focus on new patient data supporting the Ross heart reconstruction procedure and the use of SynerGraft processed human heart

valves in the Ross procedure

ATLANTA, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE: CRY), a biomaterials, medical device and tissue processing company, announced today that cardiovascular surgeons from around the globe will participate in the Ross Summit 2008, a two-day surgical congress to be held at the Company's corporate headquarters training facility in Kennesaw, Ga. The program, slated for Oct. 10 and 11, has piqued the interest of the worldwide cardiovascular surgical community with approximately 80 cardiovascular surgeons from 11 countries convening to explore new data supporting the patient advantages of the Ross Procedure in cardiac reconstruction surgeries. In addition, the participants will have the opportunity to perfect their surgical techniques related to the procedure and to learn of new, related technologies now available. Mr. Donald N. Ross, FRCS, consultant surgeon, National Heart Hospital, London, and inventor of the procedure, will be the honored guest at the summit.

The Ross Procedure is a type of specialized aortic valve surgery in which the patient's diseased aortic valve is replaced with his or her own pulmonary valve. The pulmonary valve is then replaced with a human cryopreserved pulmonary valve. A new decellurized human pulmonary heart valve, CryoValve(R) SG, processed using CryoLife's SynerGraft(R) technology, was cleared by the FDA in February 2008 for use in cardiac reconstruction procedures including the Ross Procedure.

The Ross Summit's world renowned faculty, directed by William F. Northrup III, M.D., vice p
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