Berlin, 19 July 2010. Prof. Mustafa Özbaran, leading surgeon of the VAD program at the EGE University Hospital in Izmir, successfully implanted the EXCOR® Pediatric device in the youngest Turkish patient since they started their ventricular assist device program. After his birth the patient, a 17-months-old boy was diagnosed with ideopathic cardiomyopathy, a severe form of heart failure which affects the vital function of the heart.

The patient had to undertake several medical examinations moved from one hospital to another until he finally ended up in the EGE University Hospital, where he is now receiving the best treatment currently available. In the long run he will definitely need a donor heart and the time until it becomes available has to be bridged. As waiting times in Turkey for donor hearts are quite long, Prof. Özbaran and his team decided to implant the EXCOR® Pediatric device also known as the Berlin Heart. The pulsatile EXCOR® system now
supports the pump function of the little boy`s heart in order to improve and stabilize his condition until heart transplantation is possible.

So far, the EGE University Hospital has achieved great results with the therapy Berlin Heart products can offer. One child, meanwhile successfully transplanted, lived one year with the EXCOR® Pediatric system. And even in adults, the EXCOR® device bridges the time until donor hearts become available. Only a few days ago a 53-year-old woman, who was on the device for seven months and subsequently discharged home, was transplanted and is reported to be doing well. The transplantation had only become possible because her end organs recovered so well with the support of the EXCOR® system and thus the good condition of the patient, when she received her donor heart.

About Berlin Heart
Berlin Heart GmbH is the only company worldwide that develops, produces, and distributes implantable and external ventricular assist devices for patients of every age and body size. The company is the market leader in Germany and Europe. EXCOR® is currently under clinical investigation for pediatric use in USA. All other products are not FDA approved.

About EXCOR®
EXCOR is a paracorporeal ventricular assist device for patients of all age groups, from newborns to adults. It is used for short-, mid- and long-term cardiac support and can support failing hearts for any duration from a couple of days to several months and years. Since the first implantation in 1988 EXCOR has been implanted in more than 2.000 patients worldwide.

Contact:
Berlin Heart GmbH
Kerstin Unkel
Wiesenweg 10
12247 Berlin, Germany


unkel@berlinheart.de

This release was published on openPR.