Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Bioprosthetic heart valves (BPHVs) have revolutionized the treatment of disease of valves in the heart that control blood flow within the heart. Such heart valve disease constitutes a significant health and economic burden in Canada and around the world. BPHVs serve as an alternative to mechanical valves that require lifelong treatment to prevent clotting and thereby cause increase risk of bleeding for patients. Notably, use of BPHVs has continued to evolve with the advent of transcatheter technologies wherein a minimally invasive technique has expanded the benefit of BPHVs to include patients that are unable to have surgery to replace a dysfunctional valve. Despite these successes, the long-term durability of BPHVs continues to be of great concern. Thus, our proposed work aims to compare how BPHVs degenerate and potential ways to assess this in patients. This will be addressed using a combination of analysis of dysfunctional valves and novel imaging approaches using computed tomography (CT) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Overall, this research will provide key new information on the BPHV dysfunction which will help guide innovation of new valve design, patient selection, and treatment that will ultimately serve to improve patient outcomes.