 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Youngest infant ever in Turkey receives the EXCOR® Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device
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.
Contact:
Kerstin Unkel
Marketing & PR
Phone: +49 (0)30 8187-2708
