Lintas, V.
Fioretta, E. S.
Motta, S. E.
Dijkman, P. E.
Pensalfini, M.
Mazza, E.
Caliskan, E.
Rodriguez, H.
Lipiski, M.
Sauer, M.
Cesarovic, N.
Hoerstrup, S. P.
Emmert, M. Y.
Funding for this research was provided by:
Schweizerische Herzstiftung (75010)
Forschungskredit Candoc program of the University of Zurich (F-43010-02-01)
Article History
Received: 10 May 2018
Accepted: 20 July 2018
First Online: 13 August 2018
Compliance with Ethical Standards
:
: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
: All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed and approved by the appropriate institutional committees. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted.
: This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.
: Nowadays, all TAVR prostheses are based on non-regenerative glutaraldehyde-fixed xenomaterials and are susceptible to structural tissue degeneration. The short lifespan of current TAVR devices requires repeated interventions over the patient’s lifetime and hence questioning the expansion of TAVR to younger patients. Given proof of their long-term remodeling and functionality as aortic valve substitutes, off-the-shelf, TAVR-compatible TEHVs with self-repair capacity would overcome the shortcomings of current TAVR devices and offer durable, regenerative prostheses for treating adult and young patients.