Considering my fascination with medical technology, I recently came across an interesting video about the use of stem cells to create heart valve replacements for the treatment of valvular disorders including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation. That said, I thought you might find this video very interesting:

In the past, I have written several stories about stem cell use for heart valve development. Here is one story which chronicles Dr. Magdi Yacoub’s ongoing research about heart valve replacements generated by stem cells.

Keep on tickin!

As many of you know, I am a technology enthusiast. I love seeing the ways technology can improve our lives – especially when it comes to heart valve surgery. One of the newer technologies in this industry is the MitraClip which is used to treat mitral regurgitation (which results from leaky heart valves).

Over the past few months, I continue to receive more-and-more inquiries regarding this non-invasive form of mitral valve repair. In fact, I just opened an email from Anthony that says, “I’m a 45 year-old male just diagnosed with mitral regurgitation…. I’m basically in shock… Do you have any information on the MitraClip?”

While Evalve, Inc., the company which makes the MitraClip, has been around since 1999, recent studies about this percutaneous repair device have been encouraging. On May 14, 2009, it was announced that the first 100 patients have been treated with the MitraClip system in Europe. Of the procedures performed to date, 93% were considered successful. Then, a week later, additional results published from the EVEREST High Risk Registry showed the MitraClip as an effective surgical treatment for mitral regurgitation in high risk patients.

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Considering I’m fascinated with technology, it’s natural and logical that I would monitor the ongoing roll-out and clinical trials specific to the Sapien heart valve replacement device developed by Edwards Lifesciences.

The wonderful possibilities of this unique technology could help many, many, many aortic valve replacement patients in the future. The Sapien system (shown below) is less invasive and provides patients with a faster recovery.

Sapien Heart Valve Replacement Device

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I just read a very interesting story at Canada.com about heart valve surgery on a fetus. To some extent, my jaw dropped to the ground as I learned about the surgical procedure used to save little Oceane McKenzie. Here are the highlights:

In what’s being called a Canadian first, Toronto doctors have successfully performed a life-saving heart procedure on a fetus inside her mother’s womb. A team of doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital used an ultrasound-guided balloon catheter to begin repairing one of the baby’s heart valves, which wasn’t developing properly.

Oceane McKenzie – In Utero Heart Valve Surgery Patient

During the 37-minute procedure, doctors inserted the device through the mother’s abdomen and then directly into the baby’s heart to induce proper growth and function – and to prevent the child from dying of heart failure at birth.

Oceane McKenzie, born April 15, is now doing well and expected to lead a normal childhood.

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Since posting Lisa’s mitral valve repair success story, my inbox has been flooded with questions about blood transfusions and blood bank safety like:

• When was the first blood transfusion?
• Who performed the first blood transfusion?
• Are there complications with blood transfusions?
• What are the blood transfusion guidelines?
• Are blood transfusions required during open heart surgery?

These are great questions. However, I’m not going to address all of these questions in a single, very long post. Instead, I’m going to answer these blood transfusion questions one-by-one over the next month in multiple blogs.

To start though, I’m going to write about the history of blood transfusions. Specifically, I am going to offer research about the first blood transfusion.

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