Smarter heart valve could help thousands of patients

My sister needed a heart valve replacement in her latter years, and it changed her life, giving her renewed energy. She was given a couple of options for the type of artificial valve she could have.

Biological valves made of pig or cow tissue last 10 to 15 years or there are mechanical valves that last longer but you have to take blood thinners for the rest of your life.

She opted for the biological version and found out after the op she’d been given a pig’s valve which, as she said with a laugh, was the ultimate irony for a woman brought up as an orthodox Jew who was taught to avoid anything pig related.

She would have been pleased to hear about a new artificial heart valve now starting human trials that could transform open- heart surgery for millions of patients.

This valve, the PoliValve, has been developed by scientists at the universities of Bristol and Cambridge and could last up to 25 years. The risk of blood clots is likely to be lower too.

Reassuringly, the PoliValve has passed the bench test of 200 million closings and openings. Raimondo Ascione, a cardiac surgeon at Bristol University, has said: “The new valve could help millions worldwide and we aim to test in patients within the next five years.” The valve is the result of close collaboration between scientists from different disciplines across the two universities. The need for a valve replacement arises when one of the four valves in the heart becomes diseased and stiff so that blood flow is uneven.

Worldwide, more than 1.3 million patients with diseased heart valves require surgery to replace them each year. In the UK, about 9,000 such operations take place.

So far, valves come with an increased risk because of turbulence in the blood as it flows through it, so blood thinners are necessary for life.

The British Heart Foundation gave more than £ 1.2million to the Cambridge and Bristol team to find a solution to that problem, and the PoliValve is the result.

It is made from a special copolymer using a simple moulding process, and is designed to resemble a human heart valve in flexibility, compatibility and durability.

Cambridge Professor Geof f Moggridge said: “While further testing is needed, we think it could make a major difference to the hundreds of thousands of patients who get valve replacement surgery every year.”

It is made using a moulding process, designed to look like a human heart