FibraValve (heart valve)

2023: Product Announcement

On June 7, 2023, American scientists from Harvard University announced the development of a heart valve that, after implantation, can grow with the patient.

It is noted that in many countries, children and adolescents aged 5 to 15 years often develop streptococcal pharyngitis - an infection of the back wall of the pharynx, including the tonsils. One of the complications in this case is acute rheumatic fever, which can be accompanied by lesions in the cardiovascular system, including valvular heart defects. Heart valves can be replaced surgically, but children whose body is still growing require several highly invasive operations to consistently implant larger products. This puts patients at risk and impairs their quality of life. The new development is designed to solve the problem.

Demonstration of FibraValve operation

The next generation synthetic heart valve is called FibraValve. Its creation was attended by specialists from the Wiss Institute and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard University. The valve can be manufactured in less than 10 minutes using the Focused Rotary Jet Spinning (FRJS) method: nanofibers are applied to a layout of the desired shape, allowing for a biocompatible product.

In addition, scientists used a special polymer material PLCL - a combination of polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic acid (PLA). Previous studies have shown that PLCL persists for about six months when implanted in rats, is infiltrated by living cells and remodeled into functional tissue, after which it safely biodegrades. Researchers say that FibraValve serves as some kind of foundation that serves to regenerate its own living heart valve tissue. Experiments have shown that FibraValve functions properly: its flaps open and close, passing blood with each heart blow.^[1]

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