Cook Announces Completion of the 100th Zenith Renu(R) Graft Registry Case To Treat AAA Patients with Migrating Aortic Endografts.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Cook Incorporated, the largest privately held medical device manufacturer in the world, today announced the completion of the 100th case in the United States registry in which its Zenith Renu(R) Ancillary Graft has been successfully implanted in the treatment of patients with a migrating aortic endograft. Renu is a groundbreaking medical device designed to treat abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients previously treated with implanted stent-grafts that may now have shifted, resulting in potential for leakage of blood back into the aneurysmal sac. This leakage could potentially place the patient at increased risk of aneurysm rupture.

The Zenith Renu AAA Ancillary Graft is specifically designed for secondary endovascular intervention in patients having received prior endovascular repair of infrarenal AAAs.

The Zenith Renu AAA Ancillary Graft from Cook has been used to successfully treat more than 300 AAA patients in Europe and Australia since 2002. This unique endovascular device has been available to U.S. physicians since September 1, 2005. Use of the device is a post approval activity to document device performance data in the clinical setting.

"We are thrilled that Renu is being quickly adopted by vascular surgeons worldwide in helping to solve endograft migration, one of the more common long-term issues of the earlier treatment of AAAs with an aortic endograft," said Barry Thomas, global leader of Cook's endovascular therapy products division. "Not only does Renu demonstrate a significant advancement in medical device technology, it also reflects Cook's commitment to patients experiencing endograft migration following AAA repair."

This industry-unique device is available in two configurations, a main body extension and a converter, to accommodate differing endograft designs. The Renu ancillary graft has been engineered to treat migrations in either Dacron or ePTFE membrane-based aortic endografts.

Like all the Zenith AAA Endovascular Grafts, the Renu Ancillary Graft utilizes an uncovered suprarenal stent with anchoring barbs to provide strong proximal fixation and enhanced graft-to-vessel sealing. Its lightweight, strong, shrink-resistant woven synthetic polyester graft material is the same that has been used in all Zenith endografts from Cook.

The Renu graft system uses Cook's proven Flexor(R) Introducer System and comes preloaded in a kink-resistant, hydrophilic delivery sheath. A trigger-wire system facilitates accurate placement, controlled release and stabilization of the ancillary endograft during deployment, while the system's Captor(R) Hemostatic Valve inhibits blood reflux.

For more information on the Zenith Renu AAA Ancillary Graft from Cook Incorporated, visit www.zenithstentgraft.com.

About COOK Incorporated

With international headquarters in Bloomington, Ind., COOK(R) (www.cookgroup.com), the world's largest privately held medical device manufacturer, is a leading designer, manufacturer and global distributor of minimally invasive medical device technology for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Since its founding in 1963, COOK has created innovative technologies for stents and stent-grafts, catheters, wire guides, introducer needles and sheaths, embolization coils, medical biomaterials, vena cava filters, implanted cardiac lead extraction equipment and other minimally invasive medical devices.