Press Release:
SynCardia's Total Artificial Heart Featured Among
100 Most Important Events in Human History
Exhibit to Open at Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University
The SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart is being featured among the 100 most important events in human history in a new exhibit at Indiana University's Mathers Museum of World Cultures.
TUCSON, Ariz. – Oct. 21, 2010 – On Oct. 23, a new exhibit featuring the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart titled "From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything," will open at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University (IU). The exhibit revolves around the 100 most important events in the "evolution of everything," including human, biological and planetary history.
"We wanted to include the Total Artificial Heart in our exhibit because it is the world's first and only approved Total Artificial Heart," said Kathy Schick, one of two IU anthropology professors who produced the long-term exhibit. "In the field of medical devices, the Total Artificial Heart represents life-saving technological innovation and remarkable scientific progress."
The exhibit also features:
- The first multi-cellular life
- The first automobile in Bloomington, made from a buckboard wagon
- The first electric guitar, the cast aluminum Rickenbacker "Frying Pan"
- The first MacIntosh computer, cell phone, GPS device and iPhone
The project divides the history of the universe into 10 times scales, each scale reducing in size by an order of 10. The first scale is from 10 billion years ago to 1 billion years ago, the second is from 1 billion years ago to 100 million years ago, and so on. A "top 10 list" of events is included for each of the time scales. The first time scale focuses on the "Origins of the Universe, the Solar System, the Earth and Life" and progresses to the last time scale which discusses the "Past Decade of Innovations and Their Implications."
The multi-faceted exhibit was produced by Schick and fellow IU anthropology professor Nick Toth, both experts on the origin and evolution of human technology and co-directors of the Stone Age Institute in Bloomington.
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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 1,000 implants of the Total Artificial Heart, accounting for more than 250 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
SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart.
