2,000,000th mechanical heart valve implanted

29.03.2011 17:24

Milestone for St. Jude Medical's heart valve technology

The American medical technology company St. Jude Medical (SJM) can celebrate a very special anniversary these days: two million copies of the Regent™ mechanical heart valve have been implanted to date.

As one of the pioneers in the development and production of mechanical heart valves for mitral and aortic positions, the company SJM, founded in 1976, brought the first mechanical heart valve onto the market just one year later. It formed the basis for the continued development of the mechanical heart valve prosthesis, according to Frank J. Callaghan, president of SJM's Cardiovascular Division at the company's headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. Particular emphasis is placed on the durability of the materials and on minimizing complication rates.

More than 30 years of experience with mechanical heart valves were incorporated into the development of further systems. A recent example of this is Trifecta™, a biological heart valve with stent exclusively for the aortic position, which was launched in Europe just last year and is CE certified. The exceptional hemodynamic design allows this prosthesis to mimic the flow conditions of natural heart valves by allowing the wings to open wider and therefore work more effectively than other systems.