WorldHeart Receives IRB Approval at First Center in the Levacor(TM) VAD BTT Clin...( SALT LAKE CITY Oct. 15 /- ( WorldHear...),Health

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ("WorldHeart"; Nasdaq: WHRT) - World Heart Corporation (WorldHeart) announced today that the Levacor Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) Bridge-to-Transplant (BTT) Study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. On-site clinical and technical training has been conducted, formally qualifying this center as the first for the Levacor Study.

Dr. Douglas Horstmanshof is the Program Director of the INTEGRIS Baptist Heart Failure Institute and the center's Principal Investigator for the Levacor trial. Dr. James W. Long is the Study's Co-Investigator and the Director of INTEGRIS Advanced Cardiac Care, which is the only ventricular assist device program in Oklahoma. Both clinicians have long been active in transplant and circulatory support therapies, and Dr. Horstmanshof notes that "we are excited to participate in the Levacor Study and to bring the potential benefits of this unique fourth-generation VAD technology to our heart failure patients."

As previously announced, WorldHeart has conditional approval from the FDA for the Levacor BTT Study for ten initial study sites. Mr. J. Alex Martin, WorldHeart President and CEO said that "we are eager to move forward into the clinical setting and are extremely pleased to announce INTEGRIS Baptist's qualification status. We also continue to work closely with other participating hospitals as their IRBs review the Study protocol."

The Levacor VAD is the only bearingless, fully magnetically levitated, implantable centrifugal pump to enter clinical trial. Mr. Jal S. Jassawalla, WorldHeart's Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, commented "our objective is to demonstrate that this newer-generation technology will minimize complications and provide long
'/>"/>