Thoratec Laboratories Corporation has announced a milestone for its VAD (ventricular assist device) System.
A 38-year-old heart attack victim in Germany has completed more than a year of using the system while awaiting a heart transplant. The milestone marks the product's longest continuous clinical usage since it was introduced in 1996, according to Thoratec.
The system was implanted on September 24, 1996, to support the patient's failed left ventricle. Thoratec reported that while the patient awaits a new heart, he exercises daily and routinely rides a stationary bicycle for two hours.
"Since it is often impossible to predict how long a patient will require VAD support, we believe that the ideal system must be extremely versatile. Thoratec's VAD System provides both short and long-term support to patients of all sizes that have either left, right or total heart failure," said Thoratec president D. Keith Grossman. Thoratec's VAD System is the only bridge-to-transplant system that offers total circulatory support.
Thoratec also reported that it has submitted a premarket approval supplement to the FDA in its effort to obtain approval for use of the VAD System for recovery of the natural heart. If the indication is approved, physicians in the United States could use the system in patients following open heart surgery. The system is in use in the U.S. as a bridge to transplantation, and it is marketed in Europe, Canada, and other countries as both a bridge to transplantation and for recovery of the heart following surgery.
For Your Information:
Thoratec Laboratories
2023 Eighth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
510-841-1213 (phone)
http://www.thoratec.com/
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