Germany: Replace heart valves without surgery

Yesterday (December 15), a 14-year-old German boy will receive a new heart valve made from a cow's vein at the Heart Research Center in Muenchen. The process of heart valve replacement takes place while the heart is still beating smoothly.

Heart valves are manufactured from veins of cows, costing about 25,000 euros (Photo: Bild, TP)

Replacement heart valves will be guided by a venous tube to the patient's heart and will be opened in place.

The hospital director - Professor Ruediger Lange of the German Heart Research Center at Muenchen said: ' We are in front of a new era in heart surgery .'

The replacement of heart valve for the boy will last about 1 hour and 30 minutes without a problem. This method has been studied in London but so far it has only been applied in Toronto.

This new heart valve is produced from the vein of the cow, which costs about 25,000 euros, five times more expensive than the previous heart valve. But in exchange for doctors who only need to open a hole about 22 mm in diameter on the patient's body, it is enough to perform a heart valve replacement according to this new method.

This medical achievement will be widely applied in the near future, it allows patients to go home after having a heart valve replacement for several hours.

The process of putting heart valves into the boy's body and an international conference on new surgical methods with the participation of 250 doctors from over 25 countries will be broadcast live from the Heart Research Center. in Muenchen.

Le Quan