Press Release:

TUCSON, Ariz. – Oct. 10, 2007 – On Sept. 10 and 11, the University of Wisconsin (UW) heart transplant team, including Niloo M. Edwards, M.D., chairman of cardiothoracic surgery and director of cardiac transplantation, and Takushi Kohmoto, M.D., director of the mechanical assist device program, received the first of four phases of certification training on the CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t) at University Medical Center in Tucson.

The heart transplant program at UW is one of the more active in the United States, with more than 560 heart transplants performed during its history. According to statistics from the United Network for Organ Sharing, heart transplant survival rates at UW are some of the highest in the country. While the national patient survival rate for three years post-transplant is 79.7 percent, the three-year survival rate at UW is 86.67 percent.

Today there are 22 CardioWest artificial heart certified centers, 11 in the U.S. and 11 in Europe. UW is the 26th hospital in the world to receive the first phase of certification training.

The CardioWest artificial heart is the only FDA and CE approved temporary artificial heart in the world. Originally designed as a permanent replacement heart, the CardioWest artificial heart is currently approved as a bridge-to-transplant for patients dying from end-stage biventricular failure. Their survival depends on receiving a donor heart, or an artificial heart as a bridge to human heart transplant.

The pivotal clinical study of the CardioWest artificial heart published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM 2004; 351: 859-867) showed that 79 percent of patients receiving the artificial heart survived to transplant, the highest survival rate for any heart device in the world.

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About SynCardia Systems, Inc.

SynCardia Systems, Inc. is the Tucson-based manufacturer of the world’s only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart: the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart. There have been more than 850 implants of the Total Artificial Heart, accounting for more than 190 patient years of life on the device. 

Originally used as a permanent replacement heart, the Total Artificial Heart is currently approved as a bridge to human heart transplant for people dying from end-stage biventricular failure. The Total Artificial Heart is the only device that provides immediate, safe blood flow of up to 9.5 L/min through both ventricles.

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Media Contact:
Don Isaacs
Vice President of Communications
SynCardia Systems, Inc.
Cell: (520) 955-0660