The patient, a man in his late 50's from Virginia, was in stable condition today in the Pauley Center's intensive care unit following a seven-hour surgery on Monday to implant the TAH-t. He had been critically ill suffering from end-stage heart failure. The TAH-t replaces his damaged heart while he waits for a donor heart to become available for transplant.
The TAH-t is a modern version of the Jarvik-7 Artificial Heart of the 1980s. Survival rates have increased dramatically because of technological advances that provide improved blood flow, along with major therapeutic advancements to reduce the occurrence of strokes and life threatening bleeding. The TAH-t is the only total artificial heart approved by the FDA, Health Canada and Communit Europeenne.
The VCU Medical Center is one of just three hospitals in the United States, and seven others worldwide, currently certified to implant the TAH-t. The two other U.S. hospitals are the University Medical Center (UMC) in Tucson, Ariz., and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
"More than 300,000 Americans die every year from heart failure, and many die while waiting for a transplant. As a national leader in treating heart failure and in heart transplantation, we are excited to be among the first to introduce this new technology to the nation. We also continue to introduce other diagnostic and therapeutic advances in the treatment of heart failure through the VCU Pauley Heart Center," said Dr. Sheldon M. Retchin, CEO, VCU Health System and VCU vice president for Health Sciences.
According to UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates U.S. organ transp
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Contact: Pamela Lepley
pdlepley@vcu.edu
804-828-6057
Virginia Commonwealth University
4-Apr-2006