The Sorin Group to Celebrate Carbomedics' 20 Years of Clinical Success in Mechanical Heart Valves at The 43rd STS Congress

The Sorin Group (MIL:SRN) will celebrate twenty years of clinical
success with CarboMedics' bi-leaflet, pyrolytic carbon-coated
mechanical heart valves at the 43rd STS Congress this week through a
series of special events and marketing initiatives.

Known worldwide for its innovative technology in healthcare,
CarboMedics, a brand in the Sorin Group's portfolio, pioneered the
development of pyrolytic carbon for prosthetic implants in the late
1960's. CarboMedics subsequently designed and manufactured 17
different prosthetic heart valves for 16 multi-national companies,
therefore setting the industry standard for mechanical heart-valve
replacement.

The first implant of the patented CarboMedics prosthetic
mechanical heart valve was performed in Paris in December 1986. Twenty
years later, nearly 600,000 valves have been implanted globally
without any post-operative structural failure and with outstanding
clinical results.

Professor Jose Revuelta, M.D. of Hospital Universitario Marques de
Valdecilla, Cirugia Cardiovascular, Santander, Spain, has implanted
more than 2,000 CarboMedics mechanical valves during his surgical
career.

"I have been implanting valves since 1989, and what I expect from
a mechanical-valve prosthesis is long-term reliability. After twenty
years of clinical results, there have been no post-operative
structural failures from CarboMedics' valves. Now, that's impressive,"
Prof. Revuelta declared.

CarboMedics was the first company to develop the supra-annular
implant concept. Introduced in 1993, the Top Hat(R) Supra-annular
Aortic Valve was the first bi-leaflet mechanical valve specifically
designed for supra-annular implantation, achieving a unique
haemodinamic profile. "This aspect of the valve, combined with its
ability to rotate as well as its twenty-year proven track record, have
made it an important advance in prosthetic design for aortic valve
replacement," said Professor Josef Craver, M.D., from Emory
University, Atlanta, Georgia, one of the first in the U.S. to implant
a CarboMedics Top Hat valve.

"With the CarboMedics product line, which has been part of the
Sorin Group since 2003, we have been able to expand and confirm the
excellence of the Group's heart-valve portfolio. We are excited by the
further opportunities in front of us, and committed to continued
growth" said Stefano Di Lullo, President, Cardiovascular and
Haemodinamics Division of the Sorin Group.

About the Sorin Group

The Sorin Group (Bloomberg: SRN.IM; Reuters: SORN.MI), a world
leader in the development of medical technologies for cardiac surgery,
offers innovative therapies for cardiac rhythm dysfunctions,
interventional cardiology and the treatment of chronic kidney
diseases. The Sorin Group includes: Dideco, CarboMedics, Inc., COBE
Cardiovascular, Inc., Stockert, Mitroflow, ELA Medical, Inc., Sorin
Biomedica, Bellco and Soludia. It has more than 4,500 employees
working at facilities in more than 80 countries throughout the world
to serve over 5,000 public and private treatment centers. For more
information, please visit: www.sorin.com