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Laboratory Medicine
The smallest mechanical valve size in the world approved by FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new mechanical valve (15mm), small enough to be used in newborn pediatric patients to treat heart defects.

Each year, more than 35,000 babies in the U.S. are born with congenital heart defects, some of which will require heart valve surgery and, potentially, replacement heart valve surgery.

This new Valve is a rotatable, bileaflet (two-leaflet) valve designed for implantation in the aortic or mitral position. The bileaflet design consists of two semi-circular discs that open and close in response to blood pressure changes during the heartbeat, similar to a patient’s own valve.

Written by: Nuki Mikaberidze

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