January 2010:
European Register for “Artificial Hearts” Founded at the DHZB
In mid-December the European Register for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices was launched and the statutes approved. Currently, the following are participants in the Register: the DHZB, the Heart and Diabetes Center in Bad Oeynhausen, the Department for Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgery of the University of Aachen, the University Hospital of Halle, the University Hospital of Bern, and the Medical University of Hannover.
The purpose of the Register, as stated in its statutes, is “to collect the data of patients who are supported with a mechanical circulatory support device and to make use of these data in medical studies that will help to improve the treatment of such patients.” The patient data will be rendered anonymous and then stored in an electronic register.
A planned annual publication will report on the results of research projects based on the data, and it is also planned to hold meetings at which new scientific information will be exchanged and discussed.
The chairman of the board of managers is Prof. Roland Hetzer, chairman and medical director of the DHZB, since the DHZB has the largest number of implantations of mechanical circulatory support systems worldwide (1500 to date). The deputy chairman is the director of the Department for Cardiovascular Surgery of the Heart and Diabetes Center in Bad Oeynhausen, Dr. Jan Gummert. In the near future an advisory council will be formed, which is to consist of representatives from the different disciplines such as cardiac surgery, cardiology, technical management and biometry.
As Prof. Hetzer explained, it is still not possible to be sure of the total numbers of implantations in the different countries in the world. The large amount of data that will be generated by all partners in the Register will allow scientifically sound conclusions to be drawn about the different systems and their optimal use and provide “better, more accurate and scientifically verifiable data and study projects” as a basis for the rapidly growing area of mechanical circulatory support.
