We Did Not Invent The Wheel, But We Will Make It Round!

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation emerged as an extremely promising life-saving therapy. Prior to that, the gold standard in the treatment of aortic valve stenosis was the implantation of an aortic valve prosthesis via open-heart surgery. Unfortunately, a large number of patients are not eligible for surgical heart valve replacement because of their advanced age or poor health status. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a cost effective alternative that can be used to treat this selected patient group, increasing life expectancy and improving quality of life.

Now it is time to further develop the less traumatic transcatheter valve implantation technology to make it applicable to a wider range of patients.