“At Sacred Heart, we receive lots of referrals from local and regional facilities for their most severe and complicated cardiac cases,” said Dr. Icenogle. “We are very excited to offer the Total Artificial Heart to patients dying from biventricular heart failure. The Total Artificial Heart serves as a life-saving bridge to transplant for some of the sickest patients.”
Dr. Icenogle completed his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Arizona under the leadership of Dr. Jack Copeland, who has performed more than 100 implants of the Total Artificial Heart. Upon performing its first implant, Sacred Heart will become the 1st SynCardia Certified Center in the Northwest and the 14th in the U.S. Dr. Icenogle previously implanted the Total Artificial Heart when he was an assistant professor at the University of Arizona.
Sacred Heart has had excellent heart transplant survival rates and its permanent mechanical heart assist device survival rates have now reached 90%, among the highest in the nation. Sacred Heart performs three times as many cardiovascular procedures as any other hospital in the region (Department of Health, 2006) and ranks in the nation’s top 10% of hospitals in treating patients for heart attack and congestive heart failure, according to Premier, Inc.
Source: SynCardia Systems, Inc.