Surgery proctor Dr. Latif Arusoglu (right) with
implanting surgeon Prof. Herwig Antretter and
assisting surgeon Dr. Daniel Hoefer (left) at University
Hospital Innsbruck.
INNSBRUCK, Austria – July 31, 2008 – On July 10, Prof. Dr. Gunther Laufer, chief of heart surgery at University Hospital Innsbruck, led his surgical team in performing Austria’s first implant of the CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart into a 56-year-old male patient. Prof. Herwig Antretter performed the implant with assistance from surgeon Dr. Daniel Hoefer.
CardioWest implanting surgeon Prof. Herwig Antretter
has performed nearly 100 heart transplants.
“The CardioWest artificial heart is unequaled in the treatment of end stage biventricular failure,” said Prof. Dr. Laufer. “I was determined to bring this technology to Innsbruck. With the completion of our CardioWest certification training, we can begin to save the lives of patients who previously had no other options.”
The implant marked Innsbruck’s completion of CardioWest certification training. Innsbruck is the 12th center in Europe and the 25th center in the world to become a CardioWest certified hospital.
Surgery proctor Dr. Latif Arusoglu (left) observes
Prof. Herwig Antretter perform Austria’s first
implant of the CardioWest artificial heart.
The patient was admitted to the hospital on July 5 after suffering a heart attack. Surgeons immediately performed triple bypass surgery but the patient could not be stabilized. The patient had to be placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which is similar to a heart-lung machine. Surgeons determined that the patient’s dead heart tissue could not support a heart assist device, so they removed his dying heart and implanted the CardioWest artificial heart.
As part of the certification training process, Dr. Latif Arusoglu proctored the surgery. Dr. Arusoglu is a senior physician at the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. The veteran hospital has implanted more than 100 CardioWest artificial hearts.
Originally designed as a permanent replacement heart, the CardioWest is currently approved as a bridge to human heart transplant for patients dying from end stage biventricular failure. These patients are often days, if not hours from death. Their survival is dependent upon receiving a matching donor heart, or a CardioWest artificial heart as a bridge-to-transplant.
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The CardioWest artificial heart is the first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE Mark approved temporary Total Artificial Heart in the world. There have been more than 740 implants of the CardioWest, accounting for more than 135 patient years of life on the artificial heart.
In the 10-year pivotal clinical study of the CardioWest artificial heart (New England Journal of Medicine 2004; 351: 859-867), 79 percent of patients receiving the CardioWest survived to transplant. This is the highest bridge-to-transplant rate for any heart device in the world.
Media Contact:
SynCardia Systems, Inc.
Director of Communications
Don Isaacs
Cell: (520) 955-0660
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