MEDIA ADVISORY September 14, 2004 San Antonio, Texas -- Avimael Santos was 39 years old when he suffered cardiac arrest and shock following a procedure to repair a heart valve. Dr. Charles Moore at the University of Texas Health Science Center implanted the BVS 5000, a temporary heart assist device. The BVS did the pumping for his heart for two weeks, after which he was switched to a longer-term device and received a heart transplant at CHRISTUS Transplant Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Since his transplant, Avimael and his wife have welcomed a new baby into their family.

Chattanooga, Tennessee - Neil Sharp, 68, has a history of heart issues. In 1980, he had eight blocked coronary arteries that required open-heart surgery. Five years later, he needed an additional two coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs). In 2001, he experienced another two blockages. With precious few "targets" left to be grafted onto, his surgeon, Dr. Richard Morrison at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee found one vessel he could graft to and used a TMR laser to revascularize the rest of the heart. Although the surgery was successful, he was unable to separate from bypass and required support on both sides of his heart with the BVS 5000. After six days on support, his heart's function returned and he was weaned off the device. Mr. Sharp is feeling well, and has taken up walking, logging 4 to 6 miles a day. "I'm just blessed," he said. "Every day is a bonus day."

Hueytown, Alabama -- Ricky Walton's father had suffered from heart problems that required him to undergo a double coronary artery bypass. His mother died of a heart attack. His older brother died of a heart attack at the age of 44, and his grandmother was one of the first patients to be implanted with a pacemaker at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So when, at the age of 42, Rick experienced numbness in his arms, he took it seriously: although he'd been about to head out on a motorcycle trip to Biloxi, instead he drove himself directly to the hospital. His surgeons, Dr. Shefton Riggins and Dr. Christopher Jones at Baptist Medical Center, Princeton in Birmingham, Alabama later told him that it was a good thing he did, because without immediate intervention in the face of the massive heart attack he'd suffered, he would have died. The surgical team did six off-pump coronary artery bypass grafts. The surgery went well, but when he was being wheeled out of the ICU he ended up going into ventricular fibrillation, after which his heart was unable to recover. He was rushed back into the OR and was put on the BVS 5000 on both sides of his heart for six days, recovered and went home. "Without the BVS, I don't think I would have had these extra years," said Mr. Walton. "And I wouldn't have gotten to see my first grandson, and he's a blessing," he added. His daughter Amy had been two months pregnant when Mr. Walton suffered the life-threatening heart attack. A locksmith, Mr. Walton is back to work and back to enjoying the things he liked to do before the heart attack. He spends time with his grandson, enjoys motorcycle trips, and volunteers at the cardiac unit in the hospital where his life was saved.

Based in Danvers, Massachusetts, ABIOMED, Inc. (pronounced “AB’-EE-O-MED”) is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical products designed to assist or replace the pumping function of the failing heart. ABIOMED currently manufactures and sells the AB5000™ Circulatory Support System and the BVS® 5000 Biventricular Support System for the temporary support of all patients with failing but potentially recoverable hearts. The Company’s AbioCor® Implantable Replacement Heart is the subject of an initial clinical trial being conducted under an Investigational Device Exemption from the United States Food and Drug Administration. The AbioCor has not been approved for commercial distribution, and is not available for use or sale outside of the initial clinical trial.

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Media Contact:
Andrea tenBroek
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(978) 646-1419
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