Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have successfully developed an artificial valve that can readjust and stretch as the child's heart grows. There will be only one operation and the child will keep the same prosthesis until adulthood.
Medical innovation this morning. We have developed implants that grow with children. And this is an important advance, because it can save them from repeat surgeries.
We will take the example of a heart defect. There are more than 300,000 children who are born each year with defective valves (one of the most common birth defects). We know how to cure it with artificial valves. The problem is that they are of fixed size. We therefore have to change them as the child grows, about five open heart operations before adulthood on average. It is extremely heavy and each time, we risk complications.
Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have successfully developed an artificial valve that can readjust and stretch as the child's heart grows. There will be only one operation and the child will keep the same prosthesis until adulthood.
Is it still theoretical or has it already been tested?
It has just been successfully tested after four years of research. Obviously, not yet on humans. Like all medical innovations, we must first ensure that they are perfectly safe, that there is really no risk. And when it comes to children, we are even more careful.
Now that this first step has been passed. Human clinical trials are expected to begin within a year or two. This could give parents a lot of hope. Because this type of heart defect is today responsible for 3 to 5% of the deaths of children under the age of five.