The CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart

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History:
CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t)

 

In 1982, the world became captivated by the Jarvik-7 Artificial Heart implanted into Barney Clark who lived for 112 days. In the 90’s the device and technology moved to University Medical Center (UMC) and was subsequently renamed the CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH‑t).  Budget cutbacks at UMC came close to stopping the study of this technology. To save the TAH‑t, SynCardia Systems, Inc. was formed in 2001 by Marvin J. Slepian, M.D., Richard G. Smith, MSEE, CCE, and cardiovascular surgeon Jack Copeland, M.D.

Today, the CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH‑t) is the only FDA and CE approved device capable of providing circulatory restoration in morbidly ill patients with irreversible biventricular failure, bridging them to transplantation.  In 2004, the TAH‑t was named the number one advance in Cardiovascular Medicine by the American Heart Association.

A New England Journal of Medicine paper published on August 26, 2004 (NEJM 2004; 351: 859-867), states that in the pivotal clinical study of the TAH‑t, the one year survival rate for patients receiving the CardioWest TAH‑t was 70 percent versus 31 percent for control patients who did not receive the device. One-year and five-year survival rate survival rates after transplantation among patients who had received a TAH‑t as a bridge to human heart transplant were 86 and 64 percent.

In 2008, the number of SynCardia Certified Centers increased to 27 worldwide. Some of the world’s finest cardiac hospitals and surgical teams have become, or are training to be, SynCardia Certified Centers. As ranked in the U.S. News and World Report "2009 Best Heart & Heart Surgery Hospitals” list, they include #1 Cleveland Clinic, #9 Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, #12 Barnes-Jewish Hospital, #16 University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers, #37 Ohio State University Hospital and #44 Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.

In Europe, SynCardia Certified Centers include the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, La Pitie in Paris and the German Heart Institute in Berlin.

On July 17, 2006, SynCardia received CE approval in Europe to market portable pneumatic driver units that power the TAH‑t. During the European study of this portable driver, many patients were able to recover at home, shop and even travel.

 

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