OAKLAND, CA, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - - World Heart Corporation, a global technology leader in mechanical circulatory support systems, announced today that at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece, a heart-failure patient became the first Greek patient to be implanted with the Novacor LVAS and discharged to his home while waiting for a heart transplant.
On August 2, 2005, a 53 year old male diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and pulmonary hypertension became the first patient in Greece implanted with a Novacor LVAS. The implant surgery was successfully performed at the Cardiac Surgery Department/Heart Transplant Department of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center. Following an uneventful period of recuperation the patient was recently discharged with the Novacor LVAS. “We are all very excited to see our patient returning home in such good condition and back to a more normal life with his family.” said Dr. Petros Sfirakis, who implanted the Novacor pump at Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center.
“Donor organs are very scarce in Greece, particularly for patients like this man with pulmonary hypertension, living a long distance from the Onassis Center, a long waiting period is often anticipated. There is a need for a device such as the Novacor LVAS, with a track record of reliability and durability”, commented Professor Peter Alivizatos, director of the Heart Transplant department. “We are committed to our program with the Novacor LVAS, and following the discharge of this patient we are ready to move to other implants in our center in the coming weeks.”
Dr. Piet Jansen, WorldHeart’s Chief Medical Officer, commented: “We are delighted with the successful start of the Novacor program in Greece and that the patient may now begin to enjoy a better quality of life in his own environment. This illustrates the confidence of the Onassis Staff in the Novacor LVAS for long-term reliable support. In Europe, where the usage is unrestricted, the Novacor has been used as a bridge to transplant, bridge to cardiac recovery and as destination therapy in more than 760 patients, in some cases, for periods exceeding six years of support.”
The Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, founded by the Onassis Foundation and donated to the Greek State in 1992, is among the most prominent medical centers in Greece. The Onassis Center performs more than 1,800 cardiothoracic operations a year.
About Novacor(R) LVAS:
The Novacor LVAS, a pump implanted alongside the patient’s own heart to take over a large portion of the workload of the natural heart, supports end- stage heart failure patients. It is an electrically powered, pulsatile flow device with 20 years of clinical use. The Novacor LVAS has unprecedented reliability and durability. It is the first ventricular assist device to provide a recipient with more than 6 years of circulatory support and holds the industry record for support on a single pulsatile device, 4.8 years. To date, more than 1,600 patients have been supported with the Novacor, with over 670 patient-years of experience and no deaths attributed to device failure.
About World Heart Corporation:
World Heart Corporation is a global medical device company headquartered in Oakland, California, USA with research facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah and a European office in Heesch, Netherlands. WorldHeart’s registered office is Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Any forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including without limitation, risks in product development and market acceptance of and demand for the Company’s products, risks associated with costs and delays posed by government regulation, limitations on third-party reimbursement, inability to protect proprietary technology, potential product liability, unachieved synergies and efficiencies of scale after the acquisition of MedQuest Products, Inc. in July 2005, including potential difficulties in the integration of the operation, the company’s ability to finance it’s ongoing development activities and operations and other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recently filed Proxy Statement and Amended Annual Report on Form 10-KSB/A for the year ended 2004.
WORLD HEART CORPORATION
CONTACT: Mr. Richard Juelis, World Heart Corporation, (510) 563-4713; Ms.Peggy Allman, World Heart Corporation, (510) 563-4721; www.worldheart.com
