New, spun-fiber heart valve is a step closer to patients

Abstract

Strep throat is a common and treatable childhood disease in the US, but in less wealthy countries, children afflicted with strep can develop rheumatic fever, in which runaway inflammation attacks the body's tissues. Rheumatic fever often damages the valves of the heart, causing rheumatic heart disease that can lead to serious health problems, including heart failure. Heart valves can be surgically replaced, but children whose bodies are still growing may need multiple, highly invasive surgeries to replace their valves with larger ones, putting them at risk. Kevin Kit Parker's team at the Wyss Institute and Harvard's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) vowed to fix this problem by creating an implantable heart valve that grows with a child, minimizing surgical complications and suffering.