Patients with debilitating heart disease can avoid major surgery with bioengineering valve implants.
This small device, which can be worn within an hour with a local anesthetic, is designed to treat aortic regurgitation. Aortic valve insufficiency starves the body of oxygenated blood, exhausting the patient and breathing out.
This problem occurs when the aortic valve at the exit of the heart is damaged and cannot be completely closed. This causes blood to flow back into the heart, affecting its ability to pump efficiently.
This is most common in older and hypertensive patients. Infection can also cause damage.
Patients with debilitating heart disease can avoid major surgery with bioengineering valve implants. The new Jena Valve Trilogy device, with a metal frame and pig valve, can be worn during less than an hour of minimally invasive surgery. (File image)
Up to 5% of the population suffers from aortic regurgitation, and about 1 in 20 suffers from severe symptoms. In these cases, the only option is open heart surgery. This involves opening the patient’s chest, placing the heart on a bypass machine, and replacing the valve.
However, many patients remain too weak to tolerate this major surgery. Moreover, until now there have been no valve implants specifically designed for aortic regurgitation. Surgeons have used implants designed to treat other forms of valvular disease that tend to dislodge.
The new Jena Valve Trilogy Bionic Implant with metal frame and porcine valve can be worn during minimally invasive surgery for less than an hour. “There has never been anything like this,” said professor Andreas Baumbach, a cardiologist who led the team that pioneered the device at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
“Jena Valve Trilogy will make a big difference. The first hundreds of patients are currently being treated and have an almost 100 percent success rate.
During surgery to transplant the JenaValve Trilogy, a small incision is made in the femoral artery in the inguinal region. An anesthetic is used to paralyze the area, but the patient wakes up.
Next, a thin, flexible tube called a catheter is inserted into the artery and passed through the body and heart. Surgeons use x-ray appliances to see what they are doing in real time. Made of a foldable tubular metal frame, the Jena Valve is placed in place via a catheter. Initially folded, it opens when the surgeon confirms it is in the correct location.
The fully expanded valve has a diameter of about 1 inch, but you can adjust the size on the fly to get a perfect fit. Three small legs, “slightly similar to the legs of a lunar landing module,” are anchored above the natural aortic valve and begin to function immediately.
The catheter is then removed and the incision is sewn so that the patient can return home in a day or two.
One of the first people in the UK to benefit from the new procedure was Ronald Pavette (86), a Royal Mail worker who retired from Chesham, Buckinghamshire.
He said:’Opening the bottle of water, I was completely exhausted and out of breath. My breathing was really bad. When I climbed the stairs, I crawl on all fours, and when I bent over to tie my shoelaces, it swelled completely, so I could only wear slip-on shoes. I used to enjoy cycling, but I had to stop doing this. “
First diagnosed in 2019, Pavette underwent another type of valve replacement and was fitted with a pacemaker, but neither had a significant effect and his future seemed bleak. “At that point he thought he was at the end of the road,” admitted the two grandfathers who married.
“I thought I wouldn’t have been left long after the first valve replacement failed. But then my consultant told me I was eligible for this new procedure.
Last month he put on Jena Valve and soon began to feel better.
He said:’The surgery itself was completely painless – I didn’t feel anything. I got up in a few days and noticed a lot of improvement.
“I used to wake up with breathing problems, but now I’m sleeping deeply and I don’t feel like I’m choking when I speak. I’m used to answering everything in one word to take a breath. I used to, but now I can chat with people again.
“I also walk little by little every day, and hopefully I’ll be back on my bike soon. In my opinion, this implant is the best since sliced bread.
Strange science: an anesthetic that turns urine green
A woman who underwent weight loss surgery in India woke up with an unexpected side effect from general anesthesia – her urine turned green.
Doctors were initially afraid of a serious urinary tract infection, but tests were revealed and all 62-year-old vital signs from New Delhi were normal.
A 62-year-old woman who underwent weight loss surgery in India woke up with an unexpected side effect from general anesthesia – her urine turned green
Further investigation revealed that doctors were most likely due to the anesthetic propofol, according to the findings of the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research.
In less than 1% of cases, the harmless side effect is green urine. After 12 hours, the woman’s urine returned to normal color.
Your wonderful body
When most people pinch their thumbs and little fingers, the tendons stick out inside the wrist. However, for 15% of people, this is not the case because there is no palmaris longus muscle that extends from the hand to the elbow.
The absence of one does not affect grip strength, but it reduces the strength of the 4th and 5th fingers.
Muscles may have helped our ape-like ancestors sway in trees, but as humans evolved to walk on all fours, it became redundant. Scientists say it may one day disappear completely from humans.