Subject: Successful Unprecedented Heart Surgery Conducted by SUMS Physician
From: "http://gsia.sums.ac.ir/"

Shiraz University of Medical Sciences - SUMS 
Code : 18322-188      Publish Date : Wednesday, March 1, 2023 Visit :
3442 

NEWS | Successful Unprecedented Heart Surgery Conducted by SUMS
Physician 

Successful Unprecedented Heart Surgery Conducted by SUMS Physician 
Successful Unprecedented Heart Surgery Conducted by SUMS Physician 

Successful Unprecedented Heart Surgery Conducted by SUMS Physician

Unprecedented Tricuspid Valve Replacement Conducted by SUMS Physician

Dr. Ahmad Ali Amirghofran, SUMS
<https://gsia.sums.ac.ir/en/page/18867/About-SUMS>  Cardiac Surgeon,
performed beating-heart tricuspid valve replacement grafting tissue of
the patient’s heart for the first time in the world. The surgery was
done at SUMS Shahid Faghihi Teaching Hospital
<https://gsia.sums.ac.ir/en/page/18710/Shahid-Faghihi-Hospital--AKA-Sa-a
di-Hospital->  on a 14-year-old patient, who is now continuing his
convalescence at Nemazee Teaching Hospital
<https://gsia.sums.ac.ir/en/page/18720/Nemazee-Hospital> .

As Dr. Amirghofran explained, valvular heart diseases are among the
most common heart complaints. In these cases, the physician tries to
repair the damaged valve, but if the function of a cardiac valve is
severely impaired or the heart valve is too badly damaged to be
repaired, valve replacement surgery will be necessary. The available
valves used as a replacement are either made of metal or biological
tissues from a human or animal. However, some significant challenges
might be posed if such types of valves are used. On the one hand, a
metal valve may increase the risk of thrombus, and the patient must
take anticoagulants for life. On the other hand, valve damages or
transplant rejection caused by the immune response of the host body and
the need for another valve replacement surgery are highly probable in
the cases of xenograft or homograft transplants, he added.

Dr. Amirghofran also stated that developing the aforementioned
complications may happen faster for the recipients showing damages to
the right-sided cardiac valves (aortic and tricuspid). Therefore,
making a heart valve for valve replacement in the right side of the
heart, which works for a longer period or a lifetime, has always been a
dream in cardiac surgery. Discussing these points and referring to the
formation of an idea to design a valve from patients' tissues that can
replace the pulmonary valve, he said that about ten years ago, he had
made a valve from a patient’s auricle of the right atrium, which was
considered a redundant tissue. The patient’s pulmonary valve was
replaced with the prepared valve, and then, to determine the long-term
or medium-term effectiveness of this valve, after five years, the
patient underwent angiography. Surprisingly, it was found out that the
transplanted valve had been performing highly efficiently, he declared.
Since 2017, this method has been widely applied across the globe. This
method is now standardized to a great extent bringing satisfactory
results for 140 patients in Iran.

According to Dr. Amirghofran, applying this method for tricuspid valve
replacement surgery is a step beyond previous procedures. In this
surgical method, the right-sided atrial valve is placed in the position
of the tricuspid valve. Considering the greater complexity of the
tricuspid valve compared to the pulmonary valve, the procedures of
making a valve and its replacement demand a more complicated design. As
he remarked, the tricuspid valve of this teenager was completely
deteriorated due to infection; thus, he was an ideal case for receiving
autograft valve tissue. Fortunately, the results of the surgery and
post-surgery investigations indicated the successful outcome of the
invented method. The echocardiograms done after the operation revealed
the complete similarity of the replaced valve to a normal human heart
valve. Besides, because the tissue was grafted from the patient, the
probabilities of his immune system reaction and tissue rejection would
be very low. Also, as the child grows up, the valve will grow, too.
Finally, Dr. Amirghofran expressed his hope that the tissue remains
alive in the patient’s body for a lifetime; however, stating a
definitive opinion and presenting long-term results need the passage of
time, he concluded.  

Click here
<https://gsia.sums.ac.ir/en/page/18870/Successful-Unprecedented-Heart-Su
rgery-Conducted-by-SUMS-Physician>  to watch the news video in Persian.