SynCardia Systems, Inc. (www.syncardia.com), manufacturer of the world's first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE (Europe) approved Total Artificial Heart, announced today that U.S. News & World Report has named seven SynCardia Certified Centers among the nation's "Best Children's Hospitals" for cardiology and heart surgery in its annual rankings for 2013-2014.
"The SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart has opened the flood gates in respect to the treatment possibilities for a quickly growing population of children in heart failure, including adolescents suffering from chronic rejection of their transplanted heart, end-stage heart failure accompanied by multiple congenital defects and a late-stage failing Fontan circulation," said Dr. David L.S. Morales, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, which ranked in the top five.
SynCardia Certified Centers included in the list were:
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#2 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
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#3 Texas Children's Hospital
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#5 Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
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#11 Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
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#26 Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA
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#32 Shands Hospital for Children at the University of Florida
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#34 Phoenix Children's Hospital
In addition to the seven hospitals listed above, #9 Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford and #43 Arkansas Children's Hospital have completed the first two phases of SynCardia's four-phase certification program and are ready to perform their first proctored implant once an appropriate patient has been identified.
Clinical research, surgical survival and ability to prevent bloodstream infections were among the factors making up 75% of the score used for the rankings. The other 25% reflects how many of 450 pediatric cardiologists and heart surgeons surveyed in 2011, 2012 and 2013 recommended the hospital.
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