University Hospital Cologne to be certified to implant CardioWest
artificial heart
1 Sept 2006Tucson, Ariz. USA. Members of the cardiac transplant team
from the University Hospital of Cologne in Germany will begin training to
implant the CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t) on 4 Sept.
The first of a three-part certification program will be conducted at the
Charite 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 centres in Germany will increase to six hospitals, second only to
the United States, with eight certified centres.
Also attending class will be transplant team members from Leipzig
Heart Centre in Germany. This group will be updating their certification
with training on the portable Excor TAH-t mobile driver.
The increase in the number of European centres 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 20lbs. 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 United States.
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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