ARTICLE OF THE NEWSPAPER “DIÁRIO DA REGIÃO”
Check out the full story, originally published in the newspaper “Diário da Região” on October 20th, 2017.
A heart valve with greater durability began to be used in Rio Preto and it was implanted in two patients thanks to an anti-calcification treatment. The technology was developed by Braile Biomédica and the useful life of the prosthesis was increased from an average 12 to 15 years, already considered to be high, to 18 to 20 years thanks to the amino acids and the oxidation.
This improvement can reduce the number of surgeries to which the cardiac patient has to undergo throughout life. The valve is produced with bovine pericardium. Before its preparation, it undergoes treatment that lasts 16 days, three of them destined only to the anti-calcifier. Its production involves manual labor similar to that done by a seamstress. The size to be implanted in each patient varies according to the height and weight of the person.
Those who have valve failure due to natural calcification are indicated to receive the implant. Usually the problem appears in patients with a history of rheumatic fever and the elderly patients. "With the increase in survival, people will start to make a diagnosis for valve failure due to calcification, because of the age of the person," says heart surgeon Marcelo Soares.
The valve developed by Braile Biomédica is produced manually with bovine pericardium
Calcium "hardens" the valve, both natural and implanted, and impairs its functioning. The function of the membrane is to prevent the reflux of blood in the body,
ensuring that it has only one meaning, which favors the effectiveness of the distribution
of oxygen and nutrients.
The new treatment is available for aortic and mitral valves. The aortic remains in the aortic artery and stops the blood reflux to the left ventricle at the time of the heart's relaxation. Mitral arteries prevent the blood reflux from the ventricle into the atrium when the organ contracts itself.
According to the cardiologist Valéria Braile, there were studies that pointed out where calcium deposits itself in the membrane. The novelty of this valve is that it is treated in a conventional way, which has already been treated, plus the anti-calcification treatment. "
Amino acids and oxidation decrease the deposition of calcium in the membrane, but it keeps happening. "If you do not have any bit of calcification, to tie it down a little, the product dissolves. You need to have it right, so that the product does not become rigid." The prosthesis loses its function, which is to be a valve. If it gets very calcified, it gets hard, if it gets too soft, it rips" Valéria points out.
She recalls that, throughout the history of cardiac surgery, patients actually took anti-calcifying agents to prolong the life of the prosthesis, but then they developed osteoporosis. "The thing is long and time consuming. It needs common sense from the surgeon, from the scientific community, from talking to the patient," she talked about the advances of medicine.
Valéria states that the bovine pericardium is a good material because it is not rejected by the body as a foreign body and not thrombous, that is, it does not form a clot like metal prostheses.
The surgery for implantation of the prosthesis lasts from four to four and a half hours and it is done while the patient is unconscious. The circulation is made by machines that make the blood spin because it is necessary to stop the heart and the lung. After the procedure, the patient does not need to take any medicine for the implant, only those to treat health problems like hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes. As in all cases of chronic heart disease, it is necessary to follow up for the rest of your life. Anticalcificant technology, for the time being, is available for valve implant procedures performed by the private healthcare network and also by covenants.