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 the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart
SynCardia Systems, Inc. (Tucson, AZ) is the privately-held manufacturer of the world's first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart. Originally used as a permanent replacement heart, SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart is currently approved as a bridge to transplant for people dying from end-stage biventricular heart failure. There have been more than 950 implants of the Total Artificial Heart, accounting for more than 230 patient years of life.

Similar to a heart transplant, SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart replaces both failing heart ventricles and the four heart valves, eliminating the symptoms and source of end-stage biventricular failure. Unlike a donor heart, the Total Artificial Heart is immediately available at SynCardia Certified Centers and does not require expensive anti-rejection medication, which can cause subsequent complications. It is the only device that provides immediate, safe blood flow of up to 9.5 liters per minute through both ventricles. This high volume of safe blood flow helps speed the recovery of vital organs, helping make the patient a better transplant candidate.

SynCardia Ranked #20 Among World's 50 Most Innovative Companies
In March 2011, Fast Company magazine ranked SynCardia #20 in its annual list of the "World's 50 Most Innovative Companies" for "giving mobility to artificial heart recipients." Weighing 13.5 pounds, SynCardia's Freedom® portable driver is the world's first wearable driver designed to power the Total Artificial Heart both inside and outside the hospital. The Freedom driver is CE approved for use in Europe and undergoing an FDA-approved Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical study in the U.S.

For additional information, please visit: http://www.syncardia.com
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Media Contact:
Don Isaacs
Vice President of Communications
SynCardia Systems, Inc.
Cell: (520) 955-0660