A technique called transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement, which replaces heart valves without open surgery, has been performed for the first time at the Vanderbilt Paediatric Heart Institute.
The transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement positions the heart valve with the help of a catheter placed in the vein of the leg and then up into the heart where it is deployed.
The technique has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for a specific type of paediatric case where a connective tube, either made of artificial or natural materials, is placed between the heart and the artery to the lungs.
The doctor who performed the surgery, Tom Doyle, said that the section of vein with the valve is hand sewn onto a large metal stent that can be expanded on a balloon. The stent/valve combination is folded into a catheter about as wide as a pen.
