Hope that new treatments using alginate will reduce calcification of bovine bioprosthetic heart valve tissue

Calcification limits the functional lifetime of cardiac valve substitutes fabricated from glutaraldehyde-preserved bovine pericardium. Indeed, it is the principal cause of failure in the bioprosthetic heart valve fabricated from glutaraldehyde cross-linked bovine pericardium or porcine aortic valve. But the mechanism of calcification is still not well understood, say scientists based in India.

Glutaraldehyde cross-linking is believed to activate the potential sites in the tissues for biocalcification. In this study, scientists investigated the possibility of using alginate azide (AA) instead of glutaraldehyde for the preservation of pericardial tissues in order to enhance …