The quest for a perfect heart valve substitute has been going on for half a century. In 1960, Lower et al1 described the feasibility of replacing the aortic valve of dogs with the native pulmonary valve. In 1967, Ross performed this procedure in humans.2 Ross transferred the pulmonary valve into the aortic root with the same technique used to implant aortic valve homograft3 (ie, the pulmonary s...

BACKGROUND Transcatheter pulmonary valve (TPV) replacement is an emerging therapy intended to restore pulmonary valve function in patients with right ventricular outflow tract conduit dysfunction; the impact of this technique on ventricular strain and synchrony is not known. METHODS AND RESULTS Cardiac magnetic resonance and ECG data acquired at 1 center as part of the US Melody TPV trial wer...

Abstract OBJECTIVES Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement has become a valid treatment option for right ventricular outflow tract diseases. However, some limitations occur in patients with wide, compliant tracts that might be amenable to self-expanding valved protheses. An experimental ovine study was designed evaluate novel dip-coated, low-profile trileaflet polycarbonate urethane (PCU) he...

The long-term outcome following cardiac valve replacement is primarily determined by three factors: irreversible cardiac and pulmonary pathology secondary to the valvular disease (especially left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy and degeneration, and pulmonary vascular disease), pre-existing cardiac disease, including congenital lesions and coronary arterial atherosclerotic occlusions, and pr...

Since the first cardiac valve replacement in the early sixth decade of the last century, the search continued for ideal cardiac valve substitute with proven structural durability over a period of 10 to 20 years, central flow orifice without transvalvular gradient, absence of host reactivity deleterious to valve function, non-thrombogenecity without the use of anti-coagulant, resistance to infec...

Patients who develop a severe stenosis in biological pulmonary conduits previously implanted for pulmonary outflow trunk reconstructions are treated either by surgical re-replacement, or by transcatheter stent-valve implantation through a femoral vein access. A catheter-based sub-xyphoidian access through the right ventricle for stent-valve positioning in a pulmonary conduit has rarely been pro...