Yesterday, at the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Excellence in Medical Technologies & Life Sciences Awards Banquet, we discovered an interesting new technology from an Aurora, Colorado based startup ValveXchange, Inc. The company is trying to implement a bioprosthetic valve system, designed for both mitral and aortic positions, that can last a lifetime, albeit an occasional tuneup. Here’s how the two-component system works. One component is a permanent docking station, a valve ring, and the other one is a bovine pericardium valve that can be replaced at a future date by separating the valve from the docking station, and reinserting the replacement either via an inter-costal approach similar to other minimally invasive procedures, or via a transapical approach on a beating heart, off cardiopulmonary bypass.
Here are details of how the system, which is yet to undergo regulatory approval, would function, according to the company:
The design of the VXi exchangeable valve grows out of the proven design features of the latest generation bovine pericardial heart valves. It is a two-component device consisting of a permanent “docking station”, and a collapsible inner frame. The collapsible frame contains leaflets, made from chemically preserved bovine pericardium, that can be delivered in a collapsed state, expanded and seated in the permanent docking station, then re-collapsed several years later when replacement is required. The exchangeable components collapse into a size small enough to be inserted and removed percutaneously or through an incision in the aorta. Different leaflet designs and materials can be incorporated into the exchangeable component, allowing the patient to benefit from the latest biomaterials.
The VALVEXCHANGE procedure is performed using a range of approaches, ranging from open surgical to minimally invasive, to transcatheter, depending on the clinical indication of the patient and physician experience. The exchange tools are scalable between surgical and percutaneous approaches, and robust enough to extract the wireform regardless of the degree of fibrotic overgrowth.
Product brochure (.pdf)…
Company website: ValveXchange Inc…
Press release: Frost & Sullivan Recognizes ValveXchange’s Pioneering Heart Valve Technology for Unique Long-term Management and Future Replacement Advantages…
