CardiacAssist Inc. (CardiacAssist) has announced that the Cardiovascular Institute of Stanford (University) Hospital & Clinics is one of the newest cardiac centers to begin using TandemHeart, the company’s FDA-cleared extracorporeal circulatory support system.
The company claims that TandemHeart can be placed rapidly by both interventional cardiologists in a cath lab and by cardiac surgeons in an operating room to provide short-term circulatory support to patients requiring additional cardiac assistance. The device provides effective and reliable temporary circulatory support for critically ill patients. Hemodynamic support includes a high net blood-flow rate of up to five liters per minute in the catheterization lab or up to eight liters per minute in the OR—more than twice the amount of competing technologies—and is fully reimbursed by Medicare under existing DRG codes.
“The versatility of TandemHeart is designed to be unsurpassed in the marketplace,” said Michael Garippa, CEO and President. “For example, of the nearly 1800 cases performed with TandemHeart to date by heart surgeons and cardiologists, 33% have been for ventricular dysfunction; 28% have been for high-risk cardiac surgery; and 39% have been for percutaneous cardiac interventions. As we announced last month, our record-setting revenues for the nine months of 2009 bear strong testimony to the undeniable truth that TandemHeart is a breakthrough model for treating cardiac patients quickly and aggressively. We continue to believe that TandemHeart is destined to become standard of care in extracorporeal circulatory support,” Garippa said.
CardiacAssist is exhibiting (booth number 404) its TandemHeart system at this week’s annual meeting of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (STSA) in Marco Island, Florida.