News Coverage

Man Gets Australia's First Artificial Heart Implant

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC News)

Aug. 16, 2010

Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital says it has recently performed the Southern Hemisphere's first total artificial heart implant. Angelo Tigano, 50, from Fairfield in Sydney's west, was suffering from total heart failure after having idiopathic cardiomyopathy for more than 10 years. He was selected to have the implant because without it he may have had less than two weeks to live... read more

Artificial Heart a Medical Marvel

Fairfield City Champion

Aug. 16, 2010

A Fairfield resident has been given a new chance at life - and a new heartbeat. Angelo Tigarno, 55, is pale, bone-thin and weak from hours of surgery and years of suffering. But the Fairfield man is alive - something he didn't expect two weeks ago... read more

Artificial Heart-Beat is a Winner for Angelo Tigano

The Daily Telegraph

Aug. 16, 2010

Angelo Tigano is living proof that cutting out a man's heart can't kill his love for his mum's cooking. Given just two weeks to live, the 50-year-old heart failure victim agreed to let doctors swap his dying heart for a mechanical one... read more

Heart Transplant Milestone

Taranaki Daily News

Aug. 16, 2010

The southern hemisphere's first total artificial heart transplant operation has been performed in a Sydney hospital. The recipient, 50-year-old Fairfield man Angelo Tigano, recently had his failing heart removed in a five-hour operation and it was replaced with a mechanical device... read more

Living Without a Heart

Fairfield Advance

Aug. 16, 2010

Heartless has a whole new meaning for Angelo Tigano. Mr Tigano, of Fairfield, underwent a total artificial heart transplant at St Vincent’s Hospital 10 days ago. In an Australian first, heart surgeons Phillip Spratt and Paul Jansz replaced the 50-year-old’s heart with an electronic pump system to buy him time while he waits for a donor heart... read more

Sydney Man Gets First Heart Transplant at St Vincent's Hospital

News.com.au

Aug. 16, 2010

Angelo Tigano is living proof you can remove a man's heart and he'll still love his mum's cooking. The 50-year-old from the Sydney suburb of Fairfield had surgery 10 days ago to implant a mechanical heart, making him the southern hemisphere's first recipient of the breakthrough technology... read more

Fake Heart Transplant a First

Yahoo! 7 News

Aug. 16, 2010

Mr Tigano underwent five hours of surgery, during which his own heart was removed and replaced with a mechanical device. It mimics the function of both the left and right heart ventricles, which are responsible for pumping blood. The device is said to provide up to 9.5 litres of bloodflow throughout the body per minute. The hospital says the 50-year-old should now be able to live a relatively normal life until a heart transplant becomes available...

Watch Video 1 | Video 2

Sydney Man Gets First Heart Transplant at St Vincent's Hospital

Adelaide Now

Aug. 16, 2010

A Sydney man has become the country's first person to have an artificial heart implanted. Doctors gave Angelo Tigano only two weeks to live at the start of this month. The 50-year-old was suffering from total heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and was unable to lift his head off his pillow without losing breath. Last week surgeons at St Vincent's Hospital, in Darlinghurst, cut out his heart and replaced it with an artificial one during a five-hour operation... read more

A Change of Heart: Portable Power Source Lets Cardiac Patients
Await a Permanent Donor at Home

Scientific American

July 13, 2010

They say home is where the heart is, but until recently patients who had suffered biventricular failure could survive only with the help of an artificial heart tethered to large, immobile driver system to maintain blood circulation while they awaited a heart transplant.

This could be changing; artificial heart–maker SynCardia Systems, Inc., in Tucson, Ariz., last month announced that three patients surgically implanted with the company's technology have been able to walk out of their respective hospitals and wait for donated replacement hearts in the comfort of their own homes... read more

Artificial Heart Pioneer Jack Copeland Leaving UA

Phoenix Business Journal

June 29, 2010

Dr. Jack Copeland, who performed Arizona’s first heart transplant in 1979, has resigned from University of Arizona’s College of Medicine to join the faculty at the new $227 million Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center at the University of California in San Diego.Read more: Artificial heart pioneer Jack Copeland leaving UA - Phoenix Business Journal... read more

New Drive Unit Makes Artificial Heart More Practical

Diagnostic & Invasive Cardiology

June 21, 2010

By: Keyur B. Shah, M.D.; Daniel P. Tang, M.D.; Michael Hess, M.D; and Vigneshwar Kasirajan, M.D. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va., Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program

The practicality and expense of maintaining patients on total artificial hearts (TAH) may be significantly impacted with the introduction of a new, investigational portable driver unit. The 13-pound unit driver is intended to replace the previous 418-pound driver, which will allow eligible patients to be discharged to wait for a transplant heart at home, rather than in a hospital.

The Challenge
The rapidly increasing burden of patients with advanced heart failure has fueled the growing field of mechanical circulatory support. After remarkable progress over the last several decades... read more

Patient Bridged to Transplant with Total Artificial Heart
Discusses Organ Donation

KGUN 9 – Tucson Morning Blend

May 28, 2010

Former Total Artificial Heart patient Vanessa Cirillo, who was successfully bridged to a donor heart transplant in 2007, discusses organ donation and her transplant experience as a representative of the Donor Network of Arizona... watch video

Enter the Bionic Era

Conozca Más

May 2010

Conozca Más (Learn More) is a monthly Spanish magazine that focuses on science and culture. The 15-year-old publication has a circulation of 90,000, reaching affluent and educated readers in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica and Bolivia. The May cover story titled “Enter the Bionic Era,” features technology that may substitute for human organs, including the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart... Read original article in Spanish | Read English translation

A Welcome Boost:
Proposed CMS Budget Could Benefit Medical-Device Makers

Modern Healthcare (pay-per-view article)

April 26, 2010

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed continuing new technology add-on payments of up to $53,000 (see pages 271-275) for the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart through CMS fiscal year 2011, which starts Oct. 1, 2010. CMS will issue its final decision on Aug. 1, 2010.

SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart is currently reimbursed by CMS through the highest paying Diagnostic Related Group codes, MS-DRG 001 and 002. These are the same DRG codes used for reimbursement of heart transplants and left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). In addition, since CMS FY 2009, the Total Artificial Heart has been approved for new technology add-on payments of up to $53,000… Read pay-per-view article in Modern Healthcare

National Public Radio Interviews Dr. Marvin Slepian
About Total Artificial Heart and Freedom™ Driver

KJZZ 91.5 FM Phoenix

Mar. 22, 2010

Hundreds of Arizonans die every year due to heart failure and finding the right heart takes time while on the donor list. Dr. Marvin Slepian, Chairman of Tucson-based SynCardia Systems and head of the Tissue Engineering Lab at the University of Arizona visited with KJZZ's Morning Edition Host Dennis Lambert to talk about this bridge to transplant and the continued strides of the Total Artificial Heart... listen to the interview

SynCardia, Bimba Manufacturing, and Smart Products
Work to Improve the Quality of Life for Total Artificial Heart Patients

Smart Talk

March 2010

SynCardia is working with Bimba Manufacturing and Smart Products to develop the new Freedom™ driver system, which is designed to allow stable Total Artificial Heart patients to leave the hospital to wait at home for a matching donor heart... read more

A Rare Gift

FOX 43 Harrisburg

Feb. 3, 2010

Larry and Stacey Eidell are practically newlyweds. Having only been married for three years, they would’ve never guessed the road ahead, especially because Larry was a relatively healthy individual... until last October when he had a massive heart attack that destroyed his heart. Had it not been for the SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart, doctors at Penn State Hershey Medical Center say Larry would not be here to tell his story... watch video