Sunday 3 July 2022 12:06 AM Bionic valve may spare heart patients from major surgery trends now
Patients with a debilitating heart condition could be spared major surgery by a bionic valve implant.
The tiny device, which can be fitted in under an hour using local anaesthetic, is designed to treat aortic regurgitation, a condition that starves the body of oxygenated blood and leaves patients fatigued and breathless.
The problem occurs when the valve that sits at the exit to the heart, the aortic valve, become damaged and fails to close completely. This allows blood to leak backward into the heart and affects its ability to pump efficiently.
It's most commonly seen in older patients, and those with high blood pressure. The damage may also be caused by infections.
Patients with a debilitating heart condition could be spared major surgery by a bionic valve implant. The new JenaValve Trilogy device, which has a metal frame and a valve from a pig, can be fitted during a minimally invasive procedure that takes less than an hour. (File image)
Up to five per cent of the population suffer from aortic regurgitation, with roughly one in 20 hit by severe symptoms. In these cases, the only option is open heart surgery, which involves opening up the patient's chest, putting their heart on a bypass machine and replacing the valve.
However, many sufferers are left too frail to withstand this major surgery. In addition, until now there hasn't been a valve implant designed specifically for aortic regurgitation – surgeons have been using implants designed to treat other forms of valve disease, which have a tendency to dislodge.
The new JenaValve Trilogy bionic implant, which has a metal frame and a valve from a pig, can be fitted during a minimally invasive procedure that takes less than an hour. 'There's been nothing like this before,' said cardiologist Professor Andreas Baumbach, who led the team pioneering the device at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.
'The JenaValve Trilogy will make a huge difference. The first few hundred patients have been treated now and there has been almost a 100 per cent success rate.'
During the operation to implant the JenaValve Trilogy, a small incision is made in the femoral artery in the groin – an anaesthetic is used to numb the area but patients are wide awake.
A fine, flexible tube called a catheter is then inserted into the artery and threaded up through the body and into the heart, with surgeons using an X-ray machine to see in real-time what they are doing. The JenaValve, which is made from a collapsable tube-shaped metal frame, is put into place via the catheter. Initially it is folded up, but once the surgeon confirms it is in the right place, it is opened out.
Fully expanded, the valve is around an inch in
