valve replacement by angioplasty

[westie]

todays new zealand herald reports that mercy hospital, auckland, has recently replaced aortic valves in 4 patients in a proceedure similar to angioplasty and will be doing this proceedure on an ongoing basis with a further 3 proceedures booked over the next few weeks. the valve used is said to be 50/50 metal and pigs heart tissue.

i knew this had been done overseas but was not aware that it had become a regular proceedure.

the valve is inserted by cardiologists, not surgeons, at a cost between
nz$50,000 and nz$60,000 (half of it for the valve) and takes about one hour and is being done on old/high risk patients.

the proceedure is not covered by private health insurance and is not offered in our public hospitals

 

[Ross]

To my knowledge, it still isn't a regular procedure. They've had limited success thus far here.

 

[Bridgette]

Hey Westie, did you see "Close Up" tonight? They were talking about that very thing and they interviewed one of the patients that had undergone the procedure - she was a 94 year old lady called Hazel and she had the aortic valve replacement via catheter through the groin.
She looked pretty sprightly, and the doctors were pleased with her progress, but as they said, this procedure is only currently being trialled on very high risk patients that would not survive OHS.
I think she was the first patient they did so she was the guinea pig so to speak - they had a surgeon or cardiologist (not sure which) from overseas there to oversee (lol) as it was the first time it had been attempted here. Apparently doctors from here have been over to, I guess it would be the States, to learn and observe etc...
Very interesting but not holding my breath for it to be commonplace procedure any time soon....

Bridgette

 

[westie]

7 in three weeks

7 in three weeks

hi bridgette

yes, i saw it on close up too; that 94 year lady has obviously had an amazing recovery.

the nz herald says all 4 proceedures conducted so far have been 100% sucessfull and talks about 7 proceedures over 3 weeks; thats getting pretty regular!

you can read the article yourself at www.nzherald.co.nz under the "health" menu.

 

[skeptic49]

Cutting edge stuff right now, but a few years from now this may be they way a majority of valve replacements are done.

Jim

 

[Illinois Al]

And in 2269 ...

And in 2269 ...

and in 2269, they will give you a pill. I saw it on Star Trek:TNG

 

[Ross]

Cutting edge stuff right now, but a few years from now this may be they way a majority of valve replacements are done.

Jim

Somehow, I really don't think so. Maybe for the high risk persons, but I can't see it being a standard procedure any time soon.

 

[Bridgette]

hi bridgette

yes, i saw it on close up too; that 94 year lady has obviously had an amazing recovery.

the nz herald says all 4 proceedures conducted so far have been 100% sucessfull and talks about 7 proceedures over 3 weeks; thats getting pretty regular!

you can read the article yourself at www.nzherald.co.nz under the "health" menu.

The article said that they are going to do some at Waikato Hospital too - so must be planning to do it under the public health system in certain cases?

I think it's great, but what I meant was that I couldn't see it being a starter for the likes of you and I any time soon.......also I thought it was only aortic valves they were doing, could be wrong though?

 

[westie]

for life

for life

correction bridgette

the new proceedure will never apply to you and me because we already have our on-x valves, for life!

and maybe that is the point, because i suspect, unlike our on-x's, there is no expectation the catheter inserted valves will last for 30, 40, 50 years because the health status of the people receiving them implies a service period of say 4 to 10 years max

mmm, time for another blenheim pinot gris! gee its great to be alive

 

[Duff Man]

for how many people need this procedure and similar procedures done every year, they need to come up with something way better than what we've got. It's all not good enough to me. Not for what we're capable of and in comparison to what we've accomplished in other fields of science. I hate to sound negative, but I really believe we should be gaining leaps and bounds, not small, tedious baby steps with procedures that take generations to perfect.

Why not practice transcatheter valve replacement on stenotic pigs? We eat ham products all the time, we harvest their valves, let's get down to business!

 

[Mimi]

Hi there,

Just thought you might like to read the article about Australia's first heart valve replaced without open heart surgery which was published in The Age, August 22, 2008 - 6:12PM.

http://news.theage.com.au/national/revolutionary-heart-surgery-successful-20080822-405s.html

 

[Ross]

for how many people need this procedure and similar procedures done every year, they need to come up with something way better than what we've got. It's all not good enough to me. Not for what we're capable of and in comparison to what we've accomplished in other fields of science. I hate to sound negative, but I really believe we should be gaining leaps and bounds, not small, tedious baby steps with procedures that take generations to perfect.

Why not practice transcatheter valve replacement on stenotic pigs? We eat ham products all the time, we harvest their valves, let's get down to business!

Umm maybe because humans are not pigs?

 

[catwoman]

I heard something last weekend along these lines -- MVR via angioplasty -- from a relative (an MBA) who works for a company that invests in companies developing new medical equipment and techniques.

I asked if this was through teaching hospitals. Was told, no it was through companies that develop the techniques.

Will have more time to talk to him in September. He's not free to divulge companies.

He also mentioned some other interesting subject areas in medicine he was following.

 

[SHEEPDOG]

Is this the same as ...

Is this the same as ...

... we are doing at Emory in Ga? I think they are trying the same thing in THE STATES and are having limited success. Initially, it works fine but I think there are longer term problems developing. This has been posted on VR previously too.

Aaron, progress comes slowly. ON-X has been out since 1996 but (I believe) is only starting to gain real big popularity. Look at how many on the PRE SURG or VALVE CHOICE threads say their Docs don't have any experience with ON-X and therefor don't consider using them. Who WANTS to be the TEST patient and who wants to put their MD License on the line for a "NEW" product or procedure. I know someone will do it but then it takes time to prove before another is willing to take the risk. That cycle continues till it's common place. PATIENCE!!!

 

[Bridgette]

follow up

follow up

Just as a follow up to this thread that Westie started - this procedure has now been started in our public health system. The first patient was done yesterday at Waikato Public Hospital - a 79 year old lady who is reportedly doing well post procedure.

As Westie said, this is promising for those who would not survive OHS.

Here is the link to yesterday's article in the NZ Herald:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10529452

Bridgette

 

[Duff Man]

Umm maybe because humans are not pigs?

Pigs make excellent analogs for research. I mean, we take their entire aortic root (freestyle by medtronics) and transplant them in to humans because they're such a close match. Their whole valve, not pieces of the pericardium, are used for AVR.

We do alot of other research on pigs other than cardiology that benefits humans, too.

"Whatever knowledge we gain with pigs applies almost directly to humans because they have so many physical similarities,"Ajuwon said.

Who WANTS to be the TEST patient and who wants to put their MD License on the line for a "NEW" product or procedure. I know someone will do it but then it takes time to prove before another is willing to take the risk. That cycle continues till it's common place. PATIENCE!!!

That's exactly why I'm proposing we install test valves in PIGS. Thousands of them! Imagine how much data and progress we could make without the consequences and liability of human risk. We can still do the research humanely for the most part, too.

Hell, I don't care, let's cultivate test chimps for the experiments.

 

[Mary]

That's exactly why I'm proposing we install test valves in PIGS. Thousands of them! Imagine how much data and progress we could make without the consequences and liability of human risk. We can still do the research humanely for the most part, too.

A new generation of pigs, driven insane by medical research, looms in our future!

 

[Leeroy996]

It's good for for everyone and the technology perfected helps us Ross patients that have great aortas and eventually may have dodgy pulmonary's.