On Feb. 25 & 26, the surgical team from Onze Lieve Vrouw (OLV) Hospital Aalst, led by surgeons Ivo Deblier, MD, and Karl Dossche, PhD, and accompanied by anesthesiologist Koen De Decker, MD, will become the first hospital in Belgium and the 50th hospital in the world to complete the first phase of certification training to implant the SynCardia temporary CardioWest™ Total Artificial Heart.
“It is the only device that replaces both failing heart ventricles and pumps up to 9.5 L/min through both sides of the heart to help the patient recover faster.”
“The Total Artificial Heart has no equal in the world of mechanical circulatory support,” said Mary Pat Sloan, Vice President of Global Training and Customer Support for SynCardia Systems, Inc. “It is the only device that replaces both failing heart ventricles and pumps up to 9.5 L/min through both sides of the heart to help the patient recover faster.”
OLV Hospital performs approximately 1,300 heart operations, 700 vascular operations and 180 lung operations annually. The hospital performed its first heart transplant in 1988. It implanted its first defibrillator in 1990 and its first mechanical circulatory support device as a bridge to transplant in 1995.
Fifty of the world’s finest transplant hospitals, surgeons and medical teams have become, or are training to be, SynCardia Certified Centers. These hospitals represent 12 different countries from around the world: the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Lithuania, Turkey, Australia and Belgium.
To become a SynCardia Certified Center, hospitals must apply for and complete a rigorous, four-phase training program, including the first proctored implant by an experienced Total Artificial Heart surgeon.
Study shows link between air pollution, stress, and heart health risk