1st SynCardia Total Artificial Heart Patient Discharged from Ankara University in Turkey

1st SynCardia Total Artificial Heart Patient Discharged from Ankara University in Turkey PR Newswire TUCSON, Arizona, Sept. 20, 2012 - "Inoperable" Cardiac Damage and "Overwhelming" Size of Clot Attached to Left Ventricular Pseudoaneurysm Lead to Hospital's 1st Implant of the Total Artificial Heart TUCSON, Arizona, Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 the first patient to receive the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart at Ankara University Heart Center in Turkey has been discharged from the hospital. The patient, 47-year-old Arif Sahin, is currently waiting for a matching donor heart with his family using the Freedom® portable driver to power his SynCardia Total Artificial Heart. In 2011, Mr. Sahin suffered a severe heart attack that perforated one of his heart ventricles and caused extensive tissue damage. He underwent coronary bypass surgery at a local hospital, but during a follow-up visit several months later, an echocardiogram revealed he had a blood clot attached to his ventricle wall as well as a pseudoaneurysm. After suffering from two strokes as a result of thromboembolism, Mr. Sahin was admitted to Ankara University Heart Center.