A 48 year old male patient suffering NYHA Class IV Heart Failure became the first recipient of HeartWare's HVAD mechanical circulatory assist device on March 22, 2006.

This successful implant is the beginning of HeartWare's CE mark clinical study. The implant was conducted at the Vienna General Hospital and the surgical team was led by Dr Georg Wieselthaler, Clinical Director of Mechanical Circulatory Support at the University of Vienna.

HVAD is the smallest full output long term circulatory assist device under development and HeartWare believes that HVAD is the only device of its type that can be implanted in the space directly surrounding the heart instead of the abdomen -a process that leads to significant potential advantages, especially in terms of ease of surgery and improved recovery (and quality of life) of the patients.

Source: EurekAlert