News Coverage

'Heartless' Virginia Supervisor Raises a Ruckus

NACO County News

December 2011

Jack Miller is one heartless politician. No, the Middlesex County, Va. supervisor isn't lacking in compassion or the milk of human kindness — quite the opposite, say those who know him.

He has no heart. It was removed Sept. 15 and replaced by an artificial one. His "total artificial heart" runs on air via two tubes through his abdomen that connect to an external battery-powered device... read more

Mesa Woman Wants a Heart for Christmas

CBS Phoenix

Dec. 22, 2011

Most girls Mia Welch's age would be asking for new clothes for Christmas, or maybe an iPad.

"Just waiting. Could be a good Christmas present," Welch said. Her wish list is short, and something no 21-year-old should need. "A new heart. I never thought I'd be asking for that, ever. But things change," Welch said. Change might be her word of the year.

Let us explain. First, if you spend time in Welch's hospital room, you'll hear a constant thump thump noise. She relies on that thumping sound to know she's still kicking. It comes out of a little box that contains her temporary heart... read more

She's Glad to be Looking Ahead to the Future

Houston Chronicle

Dec. 20, 2011

Shawn Galloway's list of things to be grateful for this holiday season may need a table of contents. She has successfully progressed through two life-saving surgeries within the last five months. Last July, the Cypress Fairbanks-area resident was one of four patients to receive an artificial heart at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. It was that procedure that kept her alive to receive a donor heart two months later... read more

A New Heart: After Living for Eight Months with a Mechanical Heart,
Margaret Daugherty is Back on Human Power

Richmond Times-Dispatch

December 2011

Margaret Daugherty's room is quiet. The constant churning noise from the portable machine that powered her artificial heart, the machine to which she was tethered for 223 days, is gone. The artificial heart is gone, too, replaced by the heart of an unknown woman, a donor about whom Daugherty knows little, except that she was a perfect match.

Daugherty also senses that she was someone who liked Labradors and spending time at the ocean. "The only thing I woke up wanting was a Corona and a lime, and a Labrador dog, and to be on the beach," she says with a smile, sitting up in an easy chair beside her bed at the VCU Pauley Heart Center. "Those were my impressions after I came to. A chocolate Lab and a yellow Lab were in my dream.

The fact that Daugherty woke up at all, that she's telling this story, is something of a miracle... read more

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Surgeons Are First in NYC Area
to Implant Total Artificial Heart

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center

Dec. 14, 2011

Surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center performed the first Total Artificial Heart implant in the New York City area to replace a patient's dying heart.

"For patients who will die without a heart transplant, the Total Artificial Heart helps them survive until they can get one. By replacing the heart, we are eliminating the symptoms and the source of heart failure," said lead surgeon Dr. Yoshifumi Naka, director of Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Programs at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia and associate professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons... read more

SynCardia Systems Makes Forbes Promising Companies List

Phoenix Business Journal

Dec. 1, 2011

SynCardia Systems Inc., a Tucson-based manufacturer of artificial hearts, has landed on Forbes' list of the 100 most promising private companies in America. The medical device company checked in at No. 77 on the list, and was the the only Arizona company that made the cut. Forbes describes the companies on the list as, "up-and-comers with compelling business models, strong management teams, notable customers, strategic partners and precious investment capital"... read more

Exercise blood pressure response during assisted circulatory support:
Comparison of the total artificial heart with a left ventricular assist device during rehabilitation

The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation

November 2011

Total heart replacement is an effective bridge to transplant for patients with biventricular heart failure and is an alternative to implantation of biventricular assist devices.1 The total artificial heart (TAH) is a mechanical circulatory support device that orthotopically replaces a recipient's native ventricles and all 4 cardiac valves. In contrast to a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), the native heart is entirely removed and has no impact on device function or total cardiac output.

The clinician programs the TAH pump rate ("heart rate") and ejection pressures ("contractility"), which are fixed and do not dynamically change during pump operation. The pump is calibrated in the resting state to only partially fill so that the ejection volume ("stroke volume") may increase to accommodate a rise in pre-load.

In apparently healthy individuals, systolic blood pressure rises with exercise (?10 mm Hg/metabolic equivalent).2, 3 Although stroke volume in patients with a TAH can increase during exercise, heart rate and contractility do not change. Hence, these patients could have a blunted or even hypotensive response to exercise due to arterial vasodilation in working skeletal muscle with a significantly muted increase in cardiac output.4 These concerns are particularly relevant with the development of a portable driver that permits hospital discharge with the device.

To our knowledge, there are no studies reporting on the blood pressure response to exercise or the feasibility of rehabilitation for patients who have a TAH. We hypothesized that patients with total heart replacement have a blunted response to exercise compared to those with LVADs... read more

SynCardia Named AZ Bioscience Company of the Year

NBA.com | Phoenix Suns

Oct. 18, 2011

SynCardia Systems, Inc., founded in 2001 to commercialize groundbreaking research done at the Sarver Heart Center at the University of Arizona, was named "Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year" by the Arizona BioIndustry Association. The high honor comes for "doing the most to transform the world during the last 12 months" for the company that manufactures the world's only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart.

"The Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year Award recognizes the for-profit bioscience company whose Arizona-based operations did the most to transform the world during the last 12 months," said Joan Koerber-Walker, Arizona BioIndustry Association chief executive officer. "SynCardia makes it possible for patients awaiting donor hearts to not only survive the wait but also to do so with flexibility and mobility, a feat of biomedical engineering that is world-changing for these patients."

Pioneering doctors at the Sarver Heart Center spearheaded the development of the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart, which became the world's first and only total artificial heart to win FDA approval as a bridge to human heart transplant in patients near death from heart failure. Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver personally funded the initial stages of the project ... read more

Meet the Surgeon Who Fitted the UK's First Artificial Heart

Cambridge News

September 2011

Matthew Green was dying. Desperate for a heart transplant, the 40-year-old had been on Papworth's waiting list for a donor heart for many months; with no suitable match on the horizon, his time was running out.

But luck was on Matthew's side and, thanks to a revolutionary new piece of equipment, earlier this summer he was fitted with the UK's first completely artificial heart by top cardiothoracic surgeon Mr Steven Tsui.

Not surprisingly, the pair hit the headlines when Matthew was well enough to face the press last month. But what few people knew was that, had it not been for a chance glimpse of a TV programme more than 30 years ago, Steven might never have become a surgeon... read more