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Healthcare Industry News:  CryoLife 

Devices Cardiology Personnel

 News Release - October 3, 2006

ATS Medical Announces Vice President of Research and Development

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 3 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Michael D. Dale, President and CEO of ATS Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATSI ), a developer and manufacturer of the ATS Open PivotŪ mechanical heart valve and related cardiac surgical accessories and technologies, today announced the appointment of Mr. David R. Elizondo to the position of Vice President, Research and Development.

Mr. Elizondo joins ATS Medical with broad academic and practical exposure to the research, development and operational functions of cardiovascular device design and manufacturing; particularly with respect to mechanical and tissue based prosthetic heart valves. Included among the variety of responsibilities that he assumed during his tenure with St. Jude Medical was leading the technology evaluations, transfer, and daily operation of their South American tissue valve manufacturing and technology facility. He went on to become Director, Bioprosthetic Devices for CryoLife, Inc. where he had operational and product development leadership responsibilities for bioprosthetic heart valves, vascular grafts and orthopedic tissues. Mr. Elizondo comes to ATS Medical from Boston Scientific where he most recently served as a Director, New Business Development following 5 years in Research and Development leadership responsibilities relating to catheter and balloon products.

"As we embark on the next phase of integrating 3F tissue valve technology into our product mix, the value of the expertise, enthusiasm and leadership that David brings to our company cannot be overstated," said Mr. Dale. "He has compiled a unique portfolio of management skills that range from the detail of day to day operations of tissue valve manufacturing, to the forward and visionary thinking necessary to research and develop viable product offerings that address surgeon and patient needs. With our multiple tissue valve product offerings at varying steps from market introductions to clinical trials to longer term development projects that incorporate less invasive interventional technology, it is hard to imagine platforms that can better benefit from his knowledge and technical skills. We are genuinely excited to have a person of David's caliber on board and look forward to what I know will be his many contributions to the growth of ATS Medical."

About ATS Medical

ATS Medical, Inc. manufactures and markets products and services focused on cardiac surgery. The company, global in scope, has been headquartered in Minneapolis since its founding in 1991. More than 130,000 ATS Open PivotŪ Heart Valves, which utilize a unique pivot design resulting in exceptional performance and low risk profile, have been implanted in patients worldwide. ATS Medical's focus on serving the cardiac surgery community is further strengthened by offerings that include ATS Simulus(TM) annuloplasty products for heart valve repair, SurgiFrostŪ and FrostByte(TM) products for surgical cryoablation of cardiac arrhythmias, RTI-Cardiovascular for allograft tissue services, QAS home monitoring services for anticoagulation therapy and the development of PARSUS blood filtration technology. The ATS Medical web site is http://www.atsmedical.com .

About 3F Therapeutics

3F Therapeutics was founded in 1998 with a focus similar to that of ATS Medical, on serving the needs of the cardiac surgeon. 3F Therapeutics' fundamentally unique heart valve product design concepts are intended to improve on the performance of existing heart valves by mimicking natural valves. With the belief that there is not a single solution for each heart valve implant, 3F Therapeutics has worked toward offering cardiac surgeons several biological tissue heart valve options from which to choose. Its first product, the 3F Aortic Bioprosthesis(TM), has been commercially released in Europe and the U.S. FDA submission process is underway. 3F Therapeutics was acquired by ATS Medical on September 29, 2006.

Source: ATS Medical

Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its content.
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.

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