MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ATS Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATSI), manufacturer and marketer of state-of-the-art cardiac surgery products and services, today announced that an unprecedented number of scientific presentations and symposia will focus on ATS Medical products at the upcoming European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons (EACTS) meeting. The EACTS is a key gathering of cardiovascular surgeons from around the world and is being held in Lisbon, Portugal from September 13-17, 2008.

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Professor Thierry Carrel's presentation at the meeting's Techno College on September 13th is entitled 'The ATS Enable Valve: Implantation Techniques and Clinical Results'. The ATS 3f Enable(R) Aortic Bioprosthesis incorporates the ATS 3f(R) Aortic Bioprosthesis on a Nitinol self-expanding frame which eliminates the need for traditional suturing. Valuable cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross clamp time is reduced while providing surgeons and patients with a minimally invasive alternative to traditional open chest procedures. Also at the Techno College, Dr. Mark Slaughter will present 'New Surface Treatment of Mechanical Heart Valves', a report on the novel ATS Forcefield(TM) technology which is intended to modify the surface/platelet interaction and adhesion activity with common biomaterials.

The ATS Medical booth exhibition will spotlight several products including the ATS 3f(R) Aortic Bioprosthesis and the new ATS CryoMaze(TM) Clamp. Based on the precept that 'Form Follows Function', the ATS 3f(R) Aortic Bioprosthesis is a revolutionary stentless pericardial aortic tissue valve that operates unlike any other valve. Like a native aortic valve that functions as a tubular structure whose sides collapse in response to pressure, the proprietary tubular valve design of the ATS 3f Aortic Bioprosthesis reproduces the functional characteristics of a native aortic valve, resulting in more normal distribution of stress on the valve leaflets and laminar, non-turbulent trans-prosthetic flow that is indistinguishable from flow across the normal valve. With more than six years of clinical experience to date confirming excellent safety and efficacy, the combination of normal blood flow dynamics and improved stress distribution offered by the ATS 3f Aortic Bioprosthesis provides surgeons and patients a potentially more durable and physiologic solution to aortic valve replacement.