Press Release:

For nearly a year and a half prior to his heart transplant, Bobby Dhawan was able to enjoy life at home and in his community with his wife Heidi, using the European portable driver to power his Total Artificial Heart.

TUCSON, Ariz. – Jan. 26, 2010 – Bobby Dhawan, 51, is the owner of a successful taxi service in Germany. Normally, he does not allow bumper stickers to be placed on his cabs, but recently, he made a special exception for a sticker which reads, “Don’t take your organs to heaven - heaven knows we need them here!” 

Last August, Dhawan received a donor heart transplant after living for 615 days with a SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart. For nearly a year and a half prior to his transplant, Dhawan had enjoyed life at home with his family and gone back to work using the European portable driver to power his Total Artificial Heart. 

“With the Total Artificial Heart, my health was so good and I felt so strong. I told myself, ‘I don’t want a human heart anymore, I want to keep my Total Artificial Heart,’ ” said Dhawan. “Today however, I think the donor heart transplant is the best thing I’ve ever done. I feel like a newborn person.”

Dhawan was first diagnosed with an enlarged heart in 1996. Over the next 10 years, the cycle of getting sick, then getting better kept repeating. In 2007, Dhawan lost consciousness while driving and crashed into a wall at 80 km (50 miles) per hour. When he arrived at the hospital, doctors told him his heartbeat was irregular and extremely high, around 180-200 beats per minute.

Later, Dhawan was sent to the Heart & Diabetes Center NRW in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. Doctors told him that if they didn’t implant the Total Artificial Heart, he would die within the next 48 hours.

“The Total Artificial Heart not only saved my life, it saved my family’s future,” said Dhawan. “My taxi company has 17 cars and 35 drivers, and my wife wouldn’t have been able to run the business alone. Today, my donor heart is working really well and I am back running my business. Other than having to take anti-rejection medication, I feel really great.”

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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