Heart Valve Surgery Statistic Of The Week – Pediatric Heart Surgery

September 17th, 2007

This was an interesting set of statistics that I found interesting.

According to the Boston Herald…

About 28,000 children undergo open heart surgery each year, and eight of 1,000 babies are born with some form of heart defect, including a faulty heart valve.

As you may have read in my story, I was born with a congenital, bicuspid aortic valve. Thirty-three years later, I had a Ross Procedure (aortic and pulmonary valve replacements). Today, I’m completely recovered and better than ever!!!

PLUS: MORE ON STEM CELL RESEARCH – FOLLOW UP FROM LAST WEEK HEART BLOG

Doctors say they are a significant step closer to producing stem-cell-generated heart valves for children, structures that can grow with the child.

They would eliminate the need for repeat surgeries, as now is the case when conventional methods are used.

Medical researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston say they can create the valves from stem cells derived from the bone marrow and coax those cells in the lab to grow into a complete, functioning heart valve. The process is called tissue engineering, an area of science in which investigators are attempting to develop replacement parts for structures damaged by disease and age.

The valves should be available for clinical trials within three years, John Mayer said.

“These are stem cells derived from the bone marrow,” Mayer said. “They are not embryonic stem cells.”

Mayer and his collaborators are reporting their work in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Tissue engineers at Wake Forest University already have grown a functioning human bladder derived from stem cells. The new work involves heart valves, which provide one-way blood flow from the heart’s right ventricle into the pulmonary artery.

Keep on tickin,

About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This unique book integrates clinical research with the personal experiences of 135 former patients to help future patients and their caregivers better understand the problems, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.