{"id":5352,"date":"2025-04-01T19:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T19:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=5352"},"modified":"2025-04-23T13:25:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:25:53","slug":"growing-heart-valves-scaffolds","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/growing-heart-valves-scaffolds\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiac Innovation: Growing Heart Valves from Scaffolds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past 60 years, the one-size-fits-all approach of open heart surgery with a mechanical valve has greatly evolved thanks to transformational advances in tissue valve engineering and therapeutic techniques including minimally invasive and transcatheter procedures. The most exciting part of science and medicine is that experts constantly explore new and better ways to improve outcomes, survivability and patient lives.<\/p>\n<p>We received a patient question from Zoe about one significant advance in cardiac innovation: using a patient\u2019s own cells to grow a new valve.\u00a0 Zoe asked, \u201cWhat can you tell me about the new research in England, led by Dr. Magdi Yacoub, in which patients are getting temporary valves made of scaffolds that dissolve as the valves grow into their own tissue?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All the way back in 2009, I spoke with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gerdisch-Indianapolis-Indiana.php\">Dr. Marc Gerdisch<\/a>, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, Indiana, when this research was in the beginning phases. Luckily, I was able to catch up with Dr. Gerdisch, who has successfully treated over 100 patients in our community, at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Conference to answer Zoe\u2019s question and get an update on this innovative approach to heart valve replacement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CdkYKNCzc2A?rel=0?si=JASDnxPDFz-RfA1U\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Growing New Valve Replacements Using Scaffolds<\/h2>\n<p>Here are key insights shared by Dr. Gerdisch:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is building a tissue valve with scaffolds possible? \u201cThis is really cool stuff and a little bit &#8216;Sci-fi,\u2019 said Dr. Gerdisch. \u201cWe have a clinical trial that we\u2019re completing right now with the FDA in a regenerative valve or a generative valve. The concept is that tissue is made of two things. It&#8217;s made of cells and extracellular matrix, which is a scaffold of your tissue.\u201d Dr. Gerdisch said a good way to think of it is that the extracellular matrix is like the girders of a building, where they are the plumbing and electricity, and the cells are the apartments of the building. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.structuralheartjournal.org\/article\/S2474-8706(22)00718-7\/fulltext\">Click here to early results from the extracellular matrix clinical trial.<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>How does it work? The scaffold is implanted and acts like a tissue valve replacement. Then, over time, the scaffold is inhabited with the patient\u2019s own cells. Dr. Gerdisch stated, \u201cSo fundamentally, what we\u2019re doing, which is similar to what they are doing, is that we implant the scaffold which can function as a valve, which is fine for a while. Meanwhile, the patient\u2019s stem cells inhabit the scaffold, replace it over time, and build new tissue.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.structuralheartjournal.org\/article\/S2474-8706(22)00718-7\/fulltext\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5420 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/extracellular-matrix-research-paper.jpg\" alt=\"Extracellular Research Paper by Dr. Marc Gerdisch\" width=\"650\" height=\"665\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Yacoub has helped pioneer the technology. \u201cDr. Yacoub has been at the forefront of this forever,\u201d Dr. Gerdisch explained. \u201cHe is a brilliant surgeon and considered one of the foremost heart surgeons on the planet. He has probably done more surgery than any other surgeon, but now he spends his time working on this technology.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The new regenerative valve technology is on the horizon Dr. Gerdisch hopes this innovation will work and he anticipates more data about the safety and the efficacy of extracellular matrix thanks to ongoing clinical. \u201cWe hope we\u2019ll make it through the entire FDA trial with our device, which we\u2019re using in the tricuspid position, but the regenerative process is clearly on the horizon.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Gerdisch and Franciscan Health!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of Zoe and all the patients in our community, many thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Marc-Gerdisch-Indianapolis-Indiana.php\">Dr. Marc Gerdisch<\/a> for sharing his clinical experiences and research with us.\u00a0 We would also like to thank the entire Franciscan Health team for taking such great care of heart valve patients.<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/new-diagnosis-top-facts\/\">Top 5 Facts for Newly Diagnosed Heart Valve Patients<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/free-ebook-advancing-aortic-valve-surgery\/\">Free eBook: Advancing Aortic Valve Surgery Using 3D Imaging and Artificial Intelligence<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/rapid-recovery-protocol-2-marc-gerdisch-dr\/\">Ask Dr. Gerdisch: Rapid Recovery Protocol 2.0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin,<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. Gerdisch below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"class_list":["post-5352","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-medical-technology"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5352"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5527,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5352\/revisions\/5527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}