October 1, 2015
PSG institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PSGIMSR) is soon to collaborate with Colorado State University (CSU) and the Ohio State University (OSU) to create low cost prosthetic heart valves for India.
Briefing media persons here, S. Ramalingam, the Dean of PSGIMSR and Hospitals, said that the new valves would prove efficient and reduce the patients’ need for using medication for blood clots.
“The idea is to make a novel heart valve made of plastic materials to address problems associated with rheumatic heart valve disease, which is a common form of valve disease in developing nations like India,” he said.
He added that mechanical valves demand lifelong medication since it may cause blood clotting, and bio prosthetic valves that are made from animal tissue may harden over a period of time and may not last more than 10 to 15 years.
P.R. Murugeshan, a Cardio Thoracic Surgeon, said the valves made in flexible plastic materials containing hyaluronan, a molecule found throughout the body would last a longer period without the need of anti-coagulation therapy,” he said.
The core technology of the project was invented by Lakshmi Prasad Dasi, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the School of Bio Medical Engineering, Susan P. James, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CSU, and Ketul C. Popat, Associate Professor at College of Bio Medical Engineering.
Apart from being a long lasting valve, the prosthetic valves would also be cost efficient, which would make it more affordable and endurable.
Several phases of research on developing the new valve is to be conducted at the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute in the Medical Campus at OSU, the new Suzanne and Walter Scott, Jr. Bio-engineering building at CSU, and a special lab in which pre-clinical studies would be conducted on pigs and sheep in Coimbatore.