Percutaneous Techniques for Valve Reconstruction

David H. Adams, MD, Professor and Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Program Director of the Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center, is the Co-Principal Investigator for a groundbreaking new FDA clinical trial. The upcoming trial will test an innovative way to replace malfunctioning aortic valves.

This revolutionary treatment has the potential to offer life-saving therapy to patients who cannot withstand the rigors of open-heart surgery. The Medtronic CoreValve percutaneous aortic valve is placed in the body by a catheter threaded into a blood vessel in the leg.

Already undergoing international testing, the Medtronic CoreValve System will start trials in the United States later this year, and Mount Sinai will be among the first American center to enroll patients.

Retooling Donor Homograft Valves

During the Ross Procedure, the aortic valve is replaced with the patient's pulmonary valve. The patient will then need a new pulmonary valve. The new valve generally comes from a donated heart. This human-to-human technique, called a homograft, involves removing the valve from the donor heart, cleaning it, and grafting it into the recipient.

Mount Sinai Heart doctors are always looking for ways to improve standard of care. A new manufacturing process can transform the homograft so that the donor cells and cell debris are removed. This keeps the framework of the valve intact. When the treated homograft is implanted, the patient's own cells grow onto the valve's flaps.

"This new technology, available at Mount Sinai Heart, entices the patient's stem cells to grow right in the valve," says Paul Stelzer, MD, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Once the valve is covered with the patient's own cells, the valve is better integrated into the recipient's body and may become more durable over time.