SynCardia Shares Insight on Award-Winning Artificial Heart DriverSynCardia Shares Insight on Award-Winning Artificial Heart Driver

Brian Buntz

June 24, 2013

3 Min Read
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Total Artificial Heart maker SynCardia Systems (Tucson, AZ) is a silver winner in the 2013 Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA). The company's Companion 2 (C2) driver system, which powers its temporary Total Artificial Heart in the hospital, was announced as a recipient of the prize in a ceremony in Philadelphia, held in conjunction with MD&M East. It is the second consecutive year that one of the firm's products was chosen as an MDEA winner. Here, the company provides a summary of the driver system, providing information on its design and its use in the hospital. 

The Companion 2 (C2) Driver System powers the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart in the hospital from implant until the patient's condition stabilizes. Once stable, eligible patients can be switched to the smaller, wearable Freedom portable driver. Patients who meet discharge criteria can then leave the hospital to wait for a matching donor heart at home and in their communities.

Prior to the development of the C2 Driver, the only FDA-approved driver for powering the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart in the hospital was the 418-pound "Big Blue" driver, which has been in use since the 1980s. Although Big Blue is extremely reliable, its size and weight restricts patient mobility. In addition, there are only 36 Big Blues available worldwide, which greatly limited implant capacity.

However, the new C2 Driver, which SynCardia manufactures in-house, is both robust and mobile and features a full-color touch screen that replaces the knobs and dials of the Big Blue driver. It supports very sick patients of all sizes in the operating room and in the hospital during recovery and ambulation.

For the Total Artificial Heart implant, the C2 Driver is docked in the hospital cart. The hospital cart assists patients in standing and walking during their early recovery with sturdy support handles and locking casters.

Once the patient is out of bed and ambulatory, the C2 Driver can be docked in the Driver Caddy, which provides patients with greater mobility in the hospital and on hospital grounds. The Caddy supports patient recovery by making it easier for patients to move and exercise, which helps them to rebuild their strength and improve their health.

The availability of new C2 Drivers has increased SynCardia's implant capacity by 250% with more than 90 units currently in the field. In 2012, C2 drivers helped support a record-breaking 125 implants of the Total Artificial Heart at more than 50 SynCardia-certified centers worldwide. SynCardia is projecting another record-breaking year in 2013, with hospitals currently on track to perform more than 160 implants of the Total Artificial Heart.

Author: Janelle Drumwright, senior marketing coordinator at SynCardia Systems; Editor: Don Isaacs, vice president of communications SynCardia Systems

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