Tucson, AZ (PRWEB) November 15, 2012

SynCardia Systems, Inc., manufacturer of the worlds first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE (Europe) approved Total Artificial Heart, announced today that avid hiker Chris Marshall, who received the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart in February, has been successfully bridged to a heart transplant at University of Washington (UW) Medical Center in Seattle.

I walked 607 miles with the Total Artificial Heart, so I was really fit going into that surgery, said Mr. Marshall, who received his heart transplant on Sept. 12. Thats very different from a lot of people who go into the transplant really sick. After the surgery, they not only have to recover from the transplant, but also from being sick for so long leading up to it.

Mr. Marshall was implanted with the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart on Feb. 6. Seven weeks later, on March 21, he became the first Total Artificial Heart patient in the Pacific Northwest to be discharged from the hospital using the Freedom