National Geographic Cover Story Features CardioWest(TM) Temporary Total Artificial Heart.TUCSON, Ariz. -- National Geographic's February Heart Month issue hits newsstands on Thursday, February 1 with the cover story, "Healing the Heart." This 26-page article includes 10 full pages of photographs featuring the CardioWest[TM] temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t). The CardioWest TAH-t is the modern version of the Jarvik-7 artificial heart from the 1980's. Several photos document the struggle of 62 year old Berlin patient, Siegfried Streiter, who was dying from end-stage biventricular failure. This fatal condition occurs when both sides of the heart no longer pump enough blood to sustain the patient's body. On June 8, 2006, Professor Hetzer, M.D. Medical director of the Berlin Heart Institute, removed Siegfried's dying heart and implanted the TAH-t. Twelve photographs showcase this life-saving surgery including a two page spread of the implanted TAH-t in his open chest. A special computer controlled ceiling camera captured this four-hour surgery. Visitors to National Geographic's web page at www.ngm.com/0702 can watch a short time lapse version of the surgery. "Siegfried's vital organs were shutting down; he was within days of death," explained Professor Hetzer. "We implanted the CardioWest TAH-t because it is the best device for patients needing biventricular support." The TAH-t is the only FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. and CE Mark approved temporary Total Artificial Heart in the world. It is used to keep transplant eligible patients alive until a matching donor heart can be transplanted. In the U.S., that can take months and in Germany, up to a year and a half. Since July 16, 2006, stable patients in Europe, like Siegfried, are being discharged with the EXCOR[R] TAH-t portable driver. The take-home driver is about the size of an attache ATTACHE. Connected with, attached to. This word is used to signify those persons who are attached to a foreign legation. An attache is a public minister within the meaning of the Act of April 30, 1790, s. 37, 1 Story's L. U. S. case and weighs only 20 pounds. It provides power to make the TAH-t pump blood like a human heart. At-home care speeds recovery and eliminates in-hospital costs for this portion of patient care. This driver allows many patients the freedom to leave home to shop, visit friends, and live a fuller life. Twenty heart transplant heart transplant Procedure to remove a diseased heart and replace it with a healthy one from a legally dead donor. The first was performed in 1967 by Christiaan Barnard. centers in North America and Europe are currently able to implant the CardioWest TAH-t. In North America, those centers are: University Medical Center in Tucson, AZ; Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH; Virginia Commonwealth University Formed by a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968, VCU has a medical school that is home to the nation's oldest organ transplant program. in Richmond, VA; Aurora St. Luke's in Milwaukee, WI; University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. in Ann Arbor, MI; Penn State Hershey Medical Center Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, located in Hershey, Pennsylvania 10 miles (17 km) east of Harrisburg, is the medical campus of Pennsylvania State University and is the only medical school and university hospital in Pennsylvania located outside the urban areas of in Hershey, PA; Ohio State University Ohio State University, main campus at Columbus; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1870, opened 1873 as Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, renamed 1878. There are also campuses at Lima, Mansfield, Marion, and Newark. in Columbus, OH; Hospital University of Pennsylvania (body, education) University of Pennsylvania - The home of ENIAC and Machiavelli. http://upenn.edu/. Address: Philadelphia, PA, USA. in Philadelphia, PA; Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO; and Montreal Heart Institute The Montreal Heart Institute (French: Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal), in Montreal, Quebec, is a specialty hospital dedicated to the development of cardiology. Founded in 1954, it is currently affiliated with the Université de Montréal. in Quebec, Canada. In Europe, the centers that are able to implant the CardioWest TAH-t are: Groupe Hospitalier La Pitie-Salpetriere in Paris, France; Hypital Guillaume et Rene Laennec in Nantes, France; German Heart Institute in Berlin, Germany; Heart and Diabetes Centerin Bad Oeynhausen, Germany; Herzzentrum Leipzig GmbH Universitaetsklinik in Leipzig, Germany; Universitats Klinikum Freiburg in Freiburg, Germany; Universitatsklinikum Munster in Munster, Germany; Herzzentrum Koln in Cologne, Germany; University Hospital Munich in Munich, Germany; Friedrich-Alexander University Hospital in Nuremburg, Germany. |
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