Every year, more than 5 million people in the US are diagnosed with heart Valve disease, but this condition has no effective long-term treatment. When a person’s heart valve is severely damaged by a birth defect, lifestyle, or aging, blood flow is disrupted. If left untred, there can be fatal complications.

Valve replacement and repair are the only methods of managing Severe Valvular Heart Disease, but bot both often requires reepeated surgeries that are expedished, disruptive, and faffe-threating. Most replacement valves are made of animal tissue and last up to 10 or 15 years before they must be replaced. For Pediatric Patients, Solutions are extramely limited and can require multiple reinteractions.

Now, Georgia Tech Researchers Have Created A 3D-Printed Heart Valve Made of Bioresorbable Materials and Designed to Fit An Individual Patient’s Unique Anatomy. Once implanted, the Valves will be absorbed by the body and replaced by new tissue that will perform the function that the device on

The inauguration come out of the labs of faculty members Lakshmi Prasad Dasi and Scott Holister in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) At Georgia Tech and Emery.

“This technology is very different from most existing heart valves, and we believe it represents a paradigm shift,” Said Dasi, The Rozelle Vanda Wasley Professor at BME. “We are moving away from using animal tissue devices that do’t last and aren’st sustainable, and into a new era where a heart valve can regenerate inside the patient.”

Dasi is a Leading Researcher in Heart Valve Function and Mechanics, While Holister is a Top Expert in Tissue Engineering and 3D Printing for Pediatric Medical Devices. They brieft their teams togeter to create a first-off-INS-Kind Technology.

“In pediatrics, one of the biggest challenges is that Kids grow, and their heart valves change or translational research. “BeCAuse of this, Children Must Undergo Multiple Surgeries to Repair Thei Valves as They Grow. With this new technology, the patient can potentially grow new valve tissue and not all the to all the multiple Ens in the future. “

Growing into the heart

Although 3D-printed heart valves currently exist and bioresorbable materials have been used for implants before, this is the first time the two technologies have been done to create one device Able shape-memory material.

“From the start, the vision for the project was to move away from the one-size-messt Urrent devices, “Explained Sanchita Bhat, A Research Scientist in Dasi’s Lab Who First became involved in the project as a ph.d. Student.

The Initial Research Involved Finding The Right Material and Testing Different Protypes. The team’s heart valve is 3D-printed using a Biocompatible Material Called Poly (Glycerol dodecanendio).

The Valve has shape memory, so it can be folded and delivered via a catheter, rather than open heart surgery. Once it is implanted and reactions body temperature, the device will refold into its original shape. The material will then signal to the body to make its own new tissue to replace the device. The original device will absorb complete complete in a few months.

Srujana Joshi, A Fourth-Year Ph.D. Student in Dasi’s Lab, Has Played A Major Role in Testing and Analyzing the heart valve’s design and performance.

“Once you have an idea for an implant, it takes a lot of fin-tuning and optimization to Arrive at the right design, Material, and manufacturing parameters that work,” Joshi Said. “It is an its item process, and we’ve been testing these aspects in our systems to make sure the valves are doing what they’re supposed to do.”

Bhat and Joshi are currently tested the heart valve’s physical durability with both computational models and benchtop studies. Dasi’s lab has a heart simulation setup that matches a real heart’s physiological conditions and can mimic the pressure and flow conditions of an individual patient’s heart. An additional machine tests the value’s mechanical doorability by putting it through millions of heart cycles in a short time.

A paradigm-shifting technology

According to the Researchers, it is an enormous challenge to create a material that can carry out a heart valve’s rigorous function, what also also encouraging new Tissue to Develop and TAKE TAKE OVER. Also, New Medical Devices Undergo a long journey from Bench to Bedside, and Several Key Milestones Must Be Met.

The researchers hope their technology can revolutionize treatment for heart valve patients –nd that it will usher in a new era of more tissue-enginered devices.

According to dasi and holister, implants are developed for pediatric population as ofteen as they are for adults. This is due to child diseases being rarer, along with the high cost of manufacturing. The researchers think that combining bioresbable materials with 3D printing and manufacturing could be the key to developed better peediatric devices.

“The hope is that we will start with the pediatric patients who can benefit from this technology when there is no other treatment available to them,” Dasi said. “Then we hope to show, over time, that there’s no reason why all valves should be made this way.”