Off-Pump Pulmonary Valve Implantation of a Valved Stent With an Anchoring Mechanism

Implantation of a modified stented bovine pulmonary valve in a beating heart sheep model

“…In order to overcome the above problems, we designed a self‐expandable nitinol stent valve and inserted it into the pulmonary position in sheep from the right ventricle that has resulted in no stent fracture or migration …”

“…Anticoagulant therapy was continued with low‐dose heparin for 24 h postoperatively followed by low‐dose aspirin (100 mg/day) for 2 months. Penicillin was administered for 5 postoperative days …”

“…All grafts were explanted 3 months after implantation. Before harvesting, heparin (300 IU/kg) was given intravenously . All explanted stents valve were inspected macroscopically.…”

“…In order to overcome the above problems, we designed a selfexpandable nitinol stent valve and inserted it into the pulmonary position in sheep from the right ventricle that has resulted in no stent fracture or migration. 8 Compared with the balloon-expandable platinum-iridium Melody valve, the nitinol stent is soft, flexible, and non-balloon expandable, and the "Z" ring configuration is secure and solid.…”

“…In order to solve these problems, we modified the nitinol “Z” valved stent which we designed previously . The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional improvement with the implantation of this newly modified stent valve into the pulmonary position in sheep during a 3‐month follow‐up period using echocardiographic, hemodynamic, angiographic, macroscopic, histologic, and radiographic measurements.…”