Percutaneous laser-assisted resection of the aortic valve

• Applicants: Dr. Ralf Brinkmann; Professor Georg Lutter, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Cardiac and Vascular Surgery
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 240563536

Recently, heart valve mounted metal scaffolds (valved stents) can be implanted in the position of a stenotic aortic valve via innovative transcatheter technics, i.e. transapically or transfemorally. In order to avoid complications during those catheter interventions, the diseased native valve has to be resected before.To achieve this, the operative instruments as well as the surgical technique elaborated during the first funding period will be further developed and expanded at the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, Campus Kiel.In parallel, at the Institute for Biomedical Optics of the University Lübeck the pulse energies of the laser system for minimally invasive cutting of heart valves will be further enhanced. This will realize a best possible cutting efficiency for calcified as well as non-calcified heart valve tissue.The developed instrumentation will be optimized in cooperate experiments on an in vivo porcine model and a post mortem human model. Furthermore, histological investigations of laser-tissue interactions will complete the proposed project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants