Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

About: Edwards Lifesciences Corporation is a company organization based out in Nyon, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Heart valve & Mitral valve. The organization has 1232 authors who have published 1493 publications receiving 66831 citations.

Two-Year Outcomes after Transcatheter or Surgical Aortic-Valve Replacement

Abstract: The rates of death from any cause were similar in the TAVR and surgery groups (hazard ratio with TAVR, 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71 to 1.15; P = 0.41) and at 2 years (Kaplan–Meier analysis) were 33.9% in the TAVR group and 35.0% in the surgery group (P = 0.78). The frequency of all strokes during follow-up did not differ significantly between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.67 to 2.23; P = 0.52). At 30 days, strokes were more frequent with TAVR than with surgical replacement (4.6% vs. 2.4%, P = 0.12); subsequently, there were 8 additional strokes in the TAVR group and 12 in the surgery group. Improvement in valve areas was similar with TAVR and surgical replacement and was maintained for 2 years. Paravalvular regurgitation was more frequent after TAVR (P<0.001), and even mild paravalvular regurgitation was associated with increased late mortality (P<0.001). Conclusions A 2-year follow-up of patients in the PARTNER trial supports TAVR as an alternative to surgery in high-risk patients. The two treatments were similar with respect to mortality, reduction in symptoms, and improved valve hemodynamics, but paravalvular regurgitation was more frequent after TAVR and was associated with increased late mortality. (Funded by Edwards Lifesciences; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00530894.)

implantable prosthetic valve.

Abstract: A valve prosthesis device is disclosed suitable for implantation in body ducts. The device comprises a support stent, comprised of a deployable construction adapted to be initially crimped in a narrow configuration suitable for catheterization through the body duct to a target location and adapted to be deployed by exerting substantially radial forces from within by means of a deployment device to a deployed state in the target location, and a valve assembly comprising a flexible conduit having an inlet end and an outlet, made of pliant material attached to the support beams providing collapsible slack portions of the conduit at the outlet. The support stent is provided with a plurality of longitudinally rigid support beams of fixed length. When flow is allowed to pass through the valve prosthesis device from the inlet to the outlet, the valve assembly is kept in an open position, whereas a reverse flow is prevented as the collapsible slack portions of the valve assembly collapse inwardly providing blockage to the reverse flow.

Minimally-invasive heart valves and methods of use

Abstract: Expandable heart valves for minimally invasive valve replacement surgeries are disclosed. In a first embodiment, an expandable pre-assembled heart valve includes a plastically-expandable annular base having plurality of upstanding commissure posts. A tubular flexible member including a prosthetic section and a fabric section is provided, with the prosthetic section being connected to the commissure posts and defining leaflets therebetween, and the fabric section being attached to the annular base. In a second embodiment, an expandable heart valve includes an annular tissue-engaging base and a subassembly having an elastic wireform and a plurality of leaflets connected thereto. The annular base and subassembly are separately stored and connected just prior to delivery to the host annulus. Preferably, the leaflet subassembly is stored in its relaxed configuration to avoid deformation of the leaflets. The expandable heart valves may be implanted using a balloon catheter. Preferably, the leaflets of the heart valves are secured to the commissure regions of the expandable stents using a clamping arrangement to reduce stress.

Valve prosthesis for implantation in the body

Abstract: A valve prosthesis ( 9 ) for implantation in the body by use of catheter ( 11 ) comprises a stent made from an expandable cylinder-shaped thread structure ( 2,3 ) comprising several spaced apices ( 4 ). The elastically collapsible valve ( 6 ) is mounted on the stent as the commissural points ( 5 ) of the valve ( 6 ) is secured to the projecting apices ( 4 ). The valve prosthesis ( 9 ) can be compressed around the balloon means ( 13 ) of the balloon catheter ( 11 ) and be inserted in a channel, for instance in the aorta ( 10 ). When the valve prosthesis is placed correctly the balloon means ( 13 ) is inflated thereby expanding the stent and wedging it against the wall of the aorta. The balloon means is provided with beads ( 14 ) to ensure a steady fastening of the valve prosthesis on the balloon means during insertion and expansion. The valve prosthesis ( 9 ) and the balloon catheter ( 11 ) make it possible to insert a cardiac valve prosthesis without a surgical operation comprising opening the thoracic cavity.

Heart valve prosthesis and sutureless implantation of a heart valve prosthesis

Abstract: A valvular prosthesis (10) including a valve portion (12) and a stent portion (14) The valve portion (12) includes inflow (16) and outflow (18) ends spaced apart from each other by a length of a generally cylindrical sidewall portion (20) The valve portion (12) also includes one or more leaflets (22), (24) and (26) The stent portion (14) has an inflow end (30) and outflow end (32) that may include outwardly turned portions to engage the surrounding tissue that mitigates movement thereof