http://www.or-live.com/Cardica/2488 REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – September 23, 2008 — Cardica, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDC) today announced the webcast of a robot-assisted, closed-chest coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure performed by internationally-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon Sudhir Srivastava, M.D., of the University of Chicago Medical Center, using Cardica’s C-Port® Flex-A® Anastomosis System. Husam H. Balkhy, M.D., chairman of the Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery and head of the robotics program at The Wisconsin Heart Hospital, moderates the procedure and explains critical aspects of the surgery. During the procedure, Dr. Srivastava used Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci® Surgical System robot in combination with Cardica's C-Port® Flex-A® system, an automated device that deploys tiny, stainless steel staples to attach the bypass vessel graft to the coronary artery, a connection known as an anastomosis. By automating the attachment of blood vessel grafts, the C-Port® Flex-A® system replaces traditional hand-sewn sutures. The robotic CABG procedure was performed off-pump, meaning while the heart is still beating, without the need to use a heart-lung machine and without the need to create a sternotomy, which splits the breastbone (sternum) to gain access to the heart. Dr. Srivastava performed the surgery on a 79-year-old male patient with 2-vessel coronary artery disease to his left anterior descending and obtuse marginal coronary arteries. Following the surgery, the patient did extremely well and resumed his routine activities within two weeks. "Robotic, closed-chest, off-pump CABG surgery generally provides numerous patient benefits, including quicker surgery, a shorter hospital stay, less scarring, significantly faster recovery and return to everyday activity, and reduced risk of complications," said Dr. Srivastava, director of robotic and minimally-invasive cardiac surgery at The University of Chicago Medical Center. "Be...