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Tucson, Arizona-August 30, 2006 - On
September 4th and 5th, Dr. Thorsten Wahlers, Director and Chief Surgeon of the
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and members of the cardiac transplant team
from the University Hospital of Cologne in Germany, a 1,500 bed facility serving
200,000 patients annually, will begin training to implant the CardioWestTM temporary
Total Artificial Heart (TAH‑t). The first of a three-part certification
program will be conducted at the Charité University of Medicine in Berlin.
The CardioWest™ TAH‑t is currently available
in Europe and North America. With the completion of the certification by Cologne,
the number of TAH‑t implant centers in Germany will increase to six hospitals,
second only to the U.S. with eight certified centers.
The increase in the number of European centers is the
result of the availability of the Excor® TAH‑t mobile driver; which
SynCardia received the CE mark for use in Europe on July 17, 2006. The portable
driver is about the size of an attaché case and weighs only 20 pounds.
This driver allows stable TAH‑t patients to recover at home, which speeds
recovery and dramatically lowers costs. The driver allows patients to shop, visit
friends, and enjoy a fuller life while they wait for a donor heart transplant.
SynCardia Systems, Inc., manufacturer of the CardioWest™
TAH‑t, is in the process of preparing documents for an FDA submission to
use the portable driver in the U.S.
Cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Walter Pae, of Penn State
Milton S. Hershey Hospital said, "With the availability of a portable driver
allowing hospital discharge, the CardioWest™ TAH‑t will benefit perhaps
25% of the bridge to transplant patients currently treated with LVADs."
The CardioWest™ TAH‑t is a modern version of the Jarvik-7 Artificial
Heart that was first implanted in Barney Clark in 1982. In the 1990s the device
and technology were moved to University Medical Center in Tucson and subsequently
renamed the CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart. SynCardia was
formed in 2001 by Marvin J. Slepian, M.D., Richard G. Smith, MSEE, CCE, and surgeon
Jack Copeland, M.D.
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Media contact:
SynCardia Director of Communications
Donald Isaacs
Cell: 520-955-0660
About the CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial
Heart
The CardioWest™ TAH‑t is a pneumatic, biventricular, implantable bridge-to-transplant
system for full cardiac replacement, taking the place of the failing heart in
patients at imminent risk of death. The device offers full circulatory support,
the shortest blood path and exposure to artificial surfaces, and the highest level
of cardiac output when compared with other artificial heart systems previously
tested. With the CardioWest™ TAH‑t, patients become better candidates
for eventual transplantation and have post-transplant survival rates equal to
that of non-device cardiac recipients.
About SynCardia Systems
Founded in 2001, SynCardia Systems is the developer of biomechanical cardiac replacement
and assist devices. Its CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH‑t)
is designed for severely ill patients with end-stage congestive heart failure.
The device serves as an in-hospital bridge-to-transplantation for patients at
imminent risk of death. SynCardia Systems is based in Tucson, Arizona and is on
the Web at http://www.syncardia.com.
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