Development of Tissue Engineered Heart Valves for Percutaneous Transcatheter Delivery in a Fetal Ovine Model

This multidisciplinary work shows the feasibility of replacing the fetal pulmonary valve with a percutaneous, transcatheter, fully biodegradable tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV), which was studied in vitro through accelerated degradation, mechanical, and hemodynamic testing and in vivo by implantation into a fetal lamb. The TEHV exhibited only trivial stenosis and regurgitation in vitro and no stenosis in vivo by echocardiogram. Following implantation, the fetus matured and was delivered at term. Replacing a stenotic fetal valve with a functional TEHV has the potential to interrupt the development of single-ventricle heart disease by restoring proper flow through the heart.