Iowa site of total artifical heart implant

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics received Institutional Review Board approval to implant SynCardia Systems' portable artificial hearts, researchers say. Dr. James Davis, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the university, says a 58-year-old male patient who had been suffering from ischemic cardiomyopathy had the Tucson company's temporary Tota l Artificial Heart implanted on July 6. Five days after the surgery, the patient was out of bed and walking around the intensive care unit, Davis says. Weighing 13.5 pounds, the Freedom driver is the first U.S. portable driver designed to power SynCardia's artificial heart both inside and outside the hospital. "Our hope is that through the Food and Drug Administration clinical study of the Freedom portable driver, stable total artificial heart patients who meet study criteria will be able to leave the hospital and wait for a matching donor heart at home with their families," Dr. Jennifer Goerbig-Campbell, a cardiologist with University of Iowa Heart and Vascular Center, says in a statement. Similar to a heart transplant, the SynCardia temporary artificial heart replaces both failing heart ventricles and the four heart valves, eliminating the symptoms and source of end-stage biventricular failure and does not require expensive anti-rejection medication, which can cause sub sequent complications.