Anchoring percutaneous heart valves

Percutaneous heart valve replacement is an exciting and innovative technology which provides new treatment options for previously untreatable patients. Despite promising clinical results for the currently available prostheses by Edwards Lifesciences and Medtronic, these devices still require improvement in order to represent a true alternative to conventional heart valve replacement surgery. One of these challenges is the safe and effective anchoring of the catheter-delivered devices. This paper describes the development of an anchoring technique and highlights the key anatomical influence factors to be considered when designing percutaneous heart valve prostheses.