| Salt
Lake City – Dec. 12, 2007 – On
Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, more than 200 surgeons, biomedical
engineers and heart device executives gathered at the
University of Utah to celebrate the first implant of
the Jarvik 7 artificial heart on Dec. 1, 1982, and present
the current state of artificial heart pumping technology.
"The artificial heart
is the result of six decades of work by many of the
giants in medicine. Over the last 25 years we have
made major improvements in the areas of surgical technique,
anticoagulation (blood management) and patient care
protocols," said Steve
Langford, vice president of clinical support for
SynCardia
Systems, Inc.
Today, the modern version of
the Jarvik 7, the CardioWest™
temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t), is the
first and only temporary artificial heart to receive
FDA, Health Canada and CE approval.
"When all other treatments
fail, the CardioWest artificial heart is able to save
the sickest of the sick," explained cardiothoracic
surgeon Dr. Jack Copeland. "These patients
are often days, if not hours from death. Their survival
is dependent on receiving a donor heart, or a CardioWest
artificial heart as a bridge to human heart transplant."”
In the pivotal clinical study
of the TAH-t published in the New
England Journal of Medicine (NEJM 2004; 351: 859-867),
79 percent of patients receiving the TAH-t survived
to transplant. This is the highest survival rate for
any device in the world.
In the 1990s, the Jarvik 7 technology
was transferred to University Medical Center (UMC) in
Tucson, Ariz., where it was renamed the CardioWest.
Originally designed as a permanent replacement heart,
UMC surgeon Dr. Copeland was the first surgeon to successfully
use the artificial heart as a bridge-to-transplant in
1985.
###
Media Contact:
SynCardia Systems,
Inc.
Director of Communications
Don Isaacs
C: 520-955-0660
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