Press Release:

Ivo Deblier, MD

TUCSON, Ariz. – Feb. 23, 2010 – On Feb. 25 & 26, the surgical team from Onze Lieve Vrouw (OLV) Hospital Aalst, led by surgeons Ivo Deblier, MD, and Karl Dossche, PhD, and accompanied by anesthesiologist Koen De Decker, MD, will become the first hospital in Belgium and the 50th hospital in the world to complete the first phase of certification training to implant the SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart. 

“The Total Artificial Heart has no equal in the world of mechanical circulatory support,” said Mary Pat Sloan, Vice President of Global Training and Customer Support for SynCardia Systems, Inc. “It is the only device that replaces both failing heart ventricles and pumps up to 9.5 L/min through both sides of the heart to help the patient recover faster.”

Karl Dossche, PhD

OLV Hospital performs approximately 1,300 heart operations, 700 vascular operations and 180 lung operations annually. The hospital performed its first heart transplant in 1988. It implanted its first defibrillator in 1990 and its first mechanical circulatory support device as a bridge to transplant in 1995.

Fifty of the world’s finest transplant hospitals, surgeons and medical teams have become, or are training to be, SynCardia Certified Centers. These hospitals represent 12 different countries from around the world: the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Lithuania, Turkey, Australia and Belgium.

Koen De Decker, MD

To become a SynCardia Certified Center, hospitals must apply for and complete a rigorous, four-phase training program, including the first proctored implant by an experienced Total Artificial Heart surgeon. 

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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