A 3D-printed, bioresorbable heart valve promotes tissue regeneration, potentially eliminating the need for repeated surgeries for adult and pediatric heart patients.
Every year, more than 5 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with heart valve disease, but this condition has no effective long-term treatment. When a person’s heart valve is severely damaged by a birth defect, lifestyle, or aging, blood flow is disrupted. If left untreated, there can be fatal complications.
Valve replacement and repair are the only methods of managing severe valvular heart disease, but both often require repeated surgeries that are expensive, disruptive, and life-threatening. Most replacement valves are made of animal tissue and last up to 10 or 15 years before they must be replaced. For pediatric patients, solutions are extremely limited and can require multiple reinterventions.
Now, Georgia Tech researchers have created a 3D-printed heart valve made of bioresorbable materials and designed to fit an individual patient’s unique anatomy. Once implanted, the valves will be absorbed by the body and replaced by new tissue that will perform the function that the device once served.
Research scientist Sanchita Bhat and Ph.D. student Srujana Joshi use a heart simulation setup to test the heart valve prototypes. The system matches a real heart’s physiological conditions and can mimic the pressure and flow conditions of an individual patient’s heart.
The invention comes out of the labs of faculty members Lakshmi Prasad Dasi and Scott Hollister in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory.
“This technology is very different from most existing heart valves, and we believe it represents a paradigm shift,” said Dasi, the Rozelle Vanda Wesley Professor in BME. “We are moving away from using animal tissue devices that don’t last and aren’t sustainable, and into a new era where a heart valve can regenerate inside the patient.”
Dasi is a leading researcher in heart valve function and mechanics, while Hollister is a top expert in tissue engineering and 3D printing for pediatric medical devices. They brought their teams together to create a first-of-its-kind technology.
“In pediatrics, one of the biggest challenges is that kids grow, and their heart valves change size over time,” said Hollister, who is professor and Patsy and Alan Dorris Chair in Pediatric Technology and associate chair for Translational Research.
“Because of this, children must undergo multiple surgeries to repair their valves as they grow. With this new technology, the patient can potentially grow new valve tissue and not have to worry about multiple valve replacements in the future.”