Xeltis, a Swiss-Dutch firm, announced that its bioabsorbable pulmonary heart valve has been implanted for the first time into three pediatric patients. The trial is investigating the survival rate of patients following right ventricular outflow tract reconstructions using the new device.
The company’s pulmonary valve at first works like commonly available prosthetic heart valves, but thanks to the firm’s Endogenous Tissue Restoration (ETR) technology, the device allows patients’ own cells to penetrate it and make home there. As natural tissue takes over, the valve itself slowly degrades and is absorbed by the body. The result is a naturally reconstructed heart having no foreign materials.
“The Xplore-I patients are doing well and have been discharged from hospital,” said Dr. Zsolt Prodan, M.D., Head of Congenital Heart Surgery at Paediatric Cardiac Centre in Budapest, who performed the first two interventions in July. “The bioabsorbable implant is performing according to expectations,” he added. Dr. Prodan presented details at the 30th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS).
Link: Xeltis technology info page…
Via: Xeltis…