Hospital Goes for Total Artificial Heart Implant Certification

July 17, 2007 – LDS Hospital will become certified to implant the CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t), the first and still only FDA approved temporary total artificial heart in the world.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Stephen Clayson, M.D., and his heart transplant team from LDS Hospital in Utah, are at at University Medical Center in Tucson, receiving the first phase of certification training to implant the TAH-t. The remaining three phases of TAH-t certification training take place at the hospital being certified.

In the pivotal clinical study, the TAH-t had a bridge to transplant success rate of 79 percent (New England Journal of Medicine 2004; 351: 859-867), which is the highest success rate of any heart assist device in the world.

For more information: www.syncardia.com