How the Valve Works

The valve is made of bovine pericardial tissue (from the pericardial sac) and this tissue is formed into leaflets. The valve is hand-sewn onto a metal frame and is implanted via one of two catheter-based methods--either navigated to the heart from the femoral artery in the patient's leg, or through a small incision between the ribs and into the left ventricle.


The valve is then positioned inside the patient's existing valve, using a balloon to deploy the frame, which holds it in place. Both the femoral artery or rib procedures are performed on a beating heart.

Annually, some 200,000 people in the U.S. need a new heart valve, but nearly half of them do not receive it for a variety of reasons. For example, some patients are too ill to survive open-heart surgery. The transcatheter procedure takes about 90 minutes, compared with four to six hours for open-heart surgery.

For more DOTmed coverage on Edwards read:

Doctors Replace Valve Without Open Heart Surgery
https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/10109/

Edwards Lifesciences Reports Positive Data from its Transcatheter Valve
https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/9145/

Edwards Transcatheter Heart Valve Trial Reaches Full Non-Surgical Enrollment
https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/8522/

Edwards' Earnings More Than Triple Due to Catheter-based Valve
https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/8934/

Back to HCB News

More Voices