Heart valves made using the heart sac tissues of pigs or other animals are close to the original human in terms of biomechanical properties and do not cause thrombosis unlike mechanical valves. Dmitry Trebushat, head of the development department of Angioline Research, told socialbites.ca about this.
“For example, porcine or bovine xenopericardium, which is used worldwide primarily for the formation of the leaflet apparatus of a prosthetic heart valve, exceeds biomechanically available synthetic analogues. Its flexibility allows it to function in the same way, maintaining blood flow and one’s own heart valve. Mechanical heart valves exist but even they have their own problems – thrombosis, first of all. And the biological valve, in terms of biomechanical properties, is more similar to the natural (original human) heart valve – it opens and closes about 60 times per minute, and the blood flows freely without unnecessary thrombosis, “he explained.
The development of cardiac biovalves began in the 1950s and became widespread after the 1970s. To create them, animal tissue is chemically processed into “biological plastic”, from which heart valves are created, which are then implanted in humans.
To learn more about what medical research pigs are used for and whether it makes sense to grow human donor organs in pigs, see. material “socialbites.ca”.