Prosthetic Heart Valves

T he introduction of valve replacement surgery in the early 1960s has dramatically improved the outcome of patients with valvular heart disease. Approximately 90 000 valve substitutes are now implanted in the United States and 280 000 worldwide each year; approximately half are mechanical valves and half are bioprosthetic valves. Despite the marked improvements in prosthetic valve design and surgical procedures over the past decades, valve replacement does not provide a definitive cure to the patient. Instead, native valve disease is traded for "prosthetic valve disease," and the outcome of patients undergoing valve replacement is affected by prosthetic valve hemodynamics, durability, and thrombogenicity.…

• CR
  Canada Research Chairs
• SJ
  St. Jude Medical
• CI
  Canadian Institutes of Health Research