World Heart Corp. (WHRT)

[DonShimoda]

4th center has now implanted World Heart's LVAD.

SALT LAKE CITY, July 6, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Heart Corporation (WorldHeart) (Nasdaq:WHRT - News), a developer of mechanical circulatory systems, announced today that Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, successfully implanted a Levacor(TM) Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) in the Bridge-to-Transplant (BTT) clinical study. This is the eighth implant of the Levacor VAD in the fourth implanting center in the study.

Dr. Mark Slaughter, Chief of the Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Jewish Hospital/University of Louisville, and surgical co-Principal Investigator of the study at Jewish Hospital indicated, "I am excited by our initiation of patient enrollment in this study. We are pleased to provide a fully magnetically levitated VAD therapy to our late-stage heart failure patients. This is part of our ongoing efforts to find ways to reduce complications and improve outcomes."

Mr. J. Alex Martin, WorldHeart's President and Chief Executive Officer noted, "We are pleased to continue to expand the BTT clinical study at Jewish Hospital led by Dr. Mark Slaughter, a top thought leader in mechanical circulatory support therapy. "