Breakthrough at the Charité: Heart valve prosthesis made from human tissue implanted

The German Heart Center at the Charité Berlin (DHZC) has successfully performed a procedure that is unique worldwide. Experts implanted a heart valve prosthesis made from the patient's own tissue for the first time. Previously, replacement valves made from animal material were used. However, these have a limited lifespan. The heart valve implanted now is expected to last almost indefinitely.

Heart valve defects can occur at any age and are among the most common congenital heart diseases . Worldwide, approximately 160,000 children are born each year with a defect of the so-called pulmonary valve, the valve between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery. In Germany, approximately 800 newborns are born with this condition each year.

Heart valve disease can also develop in later years. This usually occurs due to age-related wear and tear. It can also be caused by an infection, particularly infective endocarditis. Heart valve problems can also sometimes occur after a heart attack.

Previously, prostheses were made from animal tissue from cattle or pigs and had to be replaced after several years. "In children, there is a crucial disadvantage," the DHZC wrote in a press release: "The replacement valves do not grow with the child and must be replaced with a larger model approximately every five to ten years. Each of these open-heart procedures represents a significant burden for the young patients and results in longer hospital stays."

Heart Center has been researching heart valves made from the body's own material since 2010

Boris Schmitt, a pediatrician at the DHZC, and his team have been researching heart valves made from the patient's own tissue since 2010, making them more readily accepted by the immune system. Ideally, they grow with the patient. The tissue removed comes from the patient's pericardium. The leaflets of the new heart valve are formed from this tissue and attached to a wire framework. This stent is then folded, guided under X-ray control to the exact position in the heart, and then deployed again. The procedure takes only a few hours and is performed without open-heart surgery.

The prostheses, says physician Schmitt, "are initially supplied with nutrients by the bloodstream, and over time, even cell layers form. The leaflets of the heart valve thus remain alive, so to speak, able to regenerate and adapt to the body's needs." Schmitt hopes that valves like the one currently implanted will last significantly longer: "Ideally, a lifetime."