Cook Inc.'s Zenith(R) Fenestrated Workshop Promotes Endovascular Aortic Repair Throughout Canada.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Leading Physicians Across Canada Join Cook in its Efforts to Educate MD's on the Benefits of EVAR 

Cook Incorporated, the largest privately held medical device manufacturer in the world, working with the Cleveland Clinic, recently conducted the first Cook Inc. Zenith(R) Fenestrated Workshop, an event designed to educate physicians throughout Canada on the benefits of endovascular aortic repair (EVAR). The workshop brought together six prominent physicians from regions across Canada - New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia - to learn in greater detail about EVAR procedures, particularly the latest advances in branch vessel preservation, as well as to plan and size specific cases.

EVAR, which is a less-invasive alternative to treating abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) than the conventional open surgery, is performed by making two small incisions in the groin and threading two catheters through the patient's arteries. The catheters, once in place, release a tubular device comprised of large z-shaped metal stents sewn to surgical graft material that expands to channel blood through the aorta and reduce the pressure on the aneurysmal sac.

Currently, advanced fenestrated EVAR procedures are performed in only three Canadian hospitals. Cook is leading the way with physician education workshops such as this one to promote greater adoption of EVAR procedures amongst physician and patient groups in Canada with the goal of dramatically improving AAA patient outcomes.

"There is no question that for many of our patients EVAR is the preferred and safer procedure used to treat AAAs, one of the leading causes of death in males over the age of 55 in North America," said Andrew Benko, M.D., chief of angiography and endovascular therapy at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke. "The training provided in this workshop by Cook and Cleveland Clinic for the Zenith Fenestrated Graft allows us to treat a wider range of patients who normally would be excluded from EVAR."

As a market leader in North America, Cook's Zenith(R) AAA Endovascular Graft has been implanted in approximately 11,000 patients. In addition, Roy Greenberg, M.D., and the team of surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic have implanted numerous Zenith Fenestrated AAA Endovascular Grafts during clinical evaluations. The morbidity and mortality from these procedures was very favorable in contrast to the expected results with an open surgical approach. Cook has received a tremendous amount of positive feedback regarding its advanced endograft from leading physicians around the world.

"Cook's Zenith Fenestrated Endovascular Graft has performed well in our clinical evaluations and we are pleased to provide the Canadian market with the training necessary for the use of EVAR," said Dr. Greenberg, director of endovascular research at the Cleveland Clinic. The Zenith Fenestrated Endovascular Graft is available in Canada on a patient specific basis under Health Canada's Special Access program; it is an investigational device in the United States and is not available commercially.

"We are honored to be working closely with Cleveland Clinic in educating the Canadian market on the importance of EVAR as the only minimally-invasive procedure used to treat the increasingly common condition of AAAs," said Barry Thomas, global leader of Cook's endovascular therapy products division. "Through our innovation in EVAR and market leadership position in North America, we want to provide physicians in Canada with the training and tools needed to best treat AAA patients."

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.

Dr. Greenberg receives royalties from Cook related to intellectual property he developed. He is also a paid consultant for Cook.