Monthly Archives: April 2025

INTRODUCTION: Clinical evidence highlighting the efficacy and safety of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and the 2019 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for TAVR in low-risk (younger) patients has created a demand for durable and long-lasting bioprosthetic heart valve (BHV) leaflet materials. Over the life of an implanted BHV mechanical stress, immunogenicity, calcification, and hemodynamic dysfunction lead to failure via structural valve deterioration (SVD). Consequently,...

CONCLUSION: Portal vein reconstruction with bovine pericardium is feasible with comparable overall morbidity and mortality compared to pancreatoduodenectomy without PVR.

Quadricuspid aortic valve (QAV) is rare. However, to repair a quadricuspid aortic valve is not as easy to realize as in bicuspid aortic valve. The surgical design is crucial to rebuild the stable structure. He...

CONCLUSIONS: These results show that ALDH1A1 is downregulated in calcified valves, hence promoting VIC transition into an osteoblastic phenotype. Retinoic acid receptor alpha agonists, including all-trans retinoic acid through a drug repositioning strategy, represent a promising and innovative pharmacological approach to prevent calcification of native aortic valves and BPV.