SynCardia Systems announced that the University of Münster in Germany has successfully bridged its first patient to transplant with its Total Artificial Heart after 89 days of support.
A 60-year-old man was admitted to University of Münster after suffering from acute myocardial infarction on 14 January 2011. The patient was also suffering from a ventricular septal defect. The patient underwent emergency surgery that included aortocoronary bypass to create a new path to his aorta around a blocked artery, in addition to closing the hole between his heart ventricles using a patch. Two weeks after the initial recovery from this surgery, the patient deteriorated when the ventricular septal defect recurred because his tissue had been severely weakened by the heart attack.
“SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart was our only option to save this patient’s life,” said Hans Scheld, director of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. “This case demonstrates that the Total Artificial Heart is capable of bridging a patient with extended myocardial infarction, including ventricular septal defect, to successful heart transplantation.”
T D T Tjan and Andreas Hoffmeier implanted the patient with the Total Artificial Heart on 30 January 2011. His condition stabilised and on 29 April 2011, he became the hospital’s first patient to be successfully bridged to transplant with the Total Artificial Heart. The patient was discharged from the hospital with his new donor last June.
