On Mar. 21, 2012, the University of Washington Medical Center became the first in Pacific Northwest to discharge Total Artificial Heart patient. The Total Artificial Heart is manufactured by SynCardia Systems, a Tucson, AZ-based privately-held manufacturer.

The surgeon was Dr. Nahush A. Mokadam, the hospitals co-director of heart transplantation and director of mechanical circulatory support. He was assisted by Dr. Awori J. Hayanga, chief resident in cardiothoracic surgery. Mokadam is the LeRoss Endowed Professor in Cardiovascular Surgery, UW Department of Surgery.

The company was formed in 2001 by world-renowned heart surgeon Jack G. Copeland, MD, interventional cardiologist Marvin J. Slepian, MD, and biomedical engineer Richard G. Smith, MSEE, CCE, to commercialize the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart.

For the past 20 years, the supply of donor hearts in the United States has remained flat, averaging about 2,200 per year. At the start of February, more than 3,100 Americans awaited a heart transplant, including 91 in Pacific Northwest states, according to the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Heart transplant candidates can wait months or years due to the shortage of donor organs.

During the 10-year clinical study of the Total Artificial Heart that led to its FDA approval in 2004, 79 percent of patients survived until transplant. The Total Artificial Heart has been implanted in more than 1,000 people worldwide, said Michael Garippa, SynCardias CEO. The current longest-supported patient received a transplant after 1,374 days with the device.