Cardio prosthetics get additive makeover

Degenerative heart valve disease is a growing problem amongst the ageing populations of Europe and the US, while in the developing world valve failures caused by bacterial infections affect tens of millions of people. 

As part of a research collaboration that has spanned more than a decade, biomedical engineer Professor Neil Bressloff and interventional cardiologist Professor Nick Curzen, both based at the University of Southampton, have been investigating ways to use engineering to improve heart treatments. 

In their latest research, the pair are looking into ways to improve heart valve replacement, particularly in a procedure known as TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation). In this procedure, a metal cage, or stent, is passed over a catheter and into place within the opening of the aortic valve, Bressloff explained. 

“When this replacement valve opens up, it pushes the (damaged) heart valve aside, and the prosthesis starts functioning as the native valve would have done,” he said.