Percutaneous Mitral Valved Stent Implantation: An In Vitro Study

The complete replacement of the native mitral valve by implantation of a valved stent via catheter technique in an off-pump procedure is still challenging. Yet the outcome will presumably exceed today¿s percutaneous repair techniques. Here, a newly developed, less-invasive transcatheter mitral valved stent delivery system will be presented. These preliminary studies on a new prototype demonstrated good results in terms of operability and mitral stent fixation. This percutaneous transapical procedure has great potential for developing an alternative and less-invasive implantation procedure in contrast to open minimally-invasive transapical mitral valved stent implantation.