FIU Discovery

Valve replacement for critical heart valve diseases is in many cases not an option. Our clinical experience in pediatric compassionate care has shown robust function of porcine small intestinal submucosa (PSIS) valves. We assessed functional effectiveness of 4ply (~320µm) and 2ply (~166µm) PSIS mitral valves under pediatric-relevant hemodynamic pulsatile conditions. Key conclusions: (i)PSIS valves demonstrated statistically similar acute functionality in comparison to a commercially available valve. (ii)Energy losses were similar (p>0.05) under pediatric conditions which was not the case under adult aortic conditions. (iii)2ply valves were observed to be superior to 4ply, based on the robust hydrodynamic data, the mechanical properties suitable for pediatric applications and de-novo tissue replacement potential with less demand on the body. Demonstrating somatic growth, valve tissue filling matching PSIS degradation and PSIS-valve fatigue assessment are critical endeavors that need to be carried out to ensure mid to long term function of these bioscaffold mitral valves.