Stented Bioprosthetic Valves

Abstract

Extension of life expectancy in the last two decades has led to an increase in elderly patients being referred for valvular surgery. This applies particularly to aortic valve replacement for symptomatic severe aortic stenosis, where biological tissue valves are generally considered the device of choice for older patients. Aortic valve bioprostheses are commonly implanted in the current era-also in younger patients-as they may obviate the need for anticoagulation while providing better hemodynamic performance and a more favorable quality of life. The steady increase in the use of biological valves has prompted the development of several different models of conventional stented bioprostheses. At present, there are four main types of stented aortic bioprostheses that compete in the market: the LivaNova Crown PRT (LivaNova Group, Burnaby, Canada), the St. Jude Medical Trifecta (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN), the Carpentier-Edwards Perimount Magna Ease (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA), and the Medtronic Mosaic Ultra (Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN). The two most commonly used stented bioprosthetic valves in the mitral position include the Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Plus Mitral heart valve (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) and Medtronic Mosaic Mitral valve (Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN). The purpose of this chapter is to describe the features of these latest stented bioprosthetic valve models and to provide an overview of available performance data.