For elderly cores

A heart valve prosthesis safe for the elderly has been created in Novosibirsk

Anastasia Anikina, TASS

Scientists of the Meshalkin National Medical Research Center (Meshalkin Clinic) have created the first domestic mitral heart valve prosthesis for transcatheter implantation, which is suitable for elderly people. Scientists are completing preclinical trials, the press service of the clinic told TASS.

Defects of the mitral valve, which is located between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart, is one of the most common forms of pathology of the cardiovascular system.

Traditionally, these defects are treated with an open heart in conditions of artificial circulation. According to some reports, such operations are not suitable for 30-50% of elderly patients due to the risk of serious complications and death.

"By analogy with the aortic valve, the mitral valve can be installed noninvasively through the femoral artery or the apex of the heart, but the mitral valve prostheses described in the medical literature are still at the stage of preclinical or limited clinical trials – this is due to its more complex anatomy. On the basis of the bioprosthesis laboratory of the Center for New Surgical Technologies of the Meshalkin Clinic, scientists have developed a sample of a self–opening nitinol skeleton of a transcatheter mitral bioprosthesis," the press service told TASS.

The valve frame is made of an alloy of nickel and titanium, the flaps are made of the pericardium of the calf's heart. It is planned that the valve will be inserted through the apex of the heart or the left atrium without stopping the heart and open inside.

Alexander Bogachev-Prokofiev, a cardiac surgeon at the Meshalkin Clinic, told TASS that the laboratory is preparing to complete preclinical tests.

"The design of the mitral valve is more complicated, there are certain points that prevent its rapid appearance on the market. No such foreign prosthesis has been registered in Russia. As part of a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, since 2016 we have been developing a domestic transcatheter mitral valve prosthesis. We conducted tests on small laboratory animals and came close to implanting a valve on a large laboratory animal – a mini pig (a dwarf domestic pig - approx. TASS) or a sheep," the surgeon said.

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