Bioprosthetic heart valves: the need for a quantum leap

More than 250,000 bioprosthetic heart valves are being implanted annually. Although the majority of recipients are elderly developed-world patients, the most urgent need for tissue valves is in younger patients, where rapid degeneration of contemporary prostheses remains a serious obstacle. After decades of empirical and mostly futile attempts to extend the longevity of tissue valve prostheses, new insights and solutions are on the horizon. Aetiologically, a shift of focus from mineralization to immune responses and inflammation emerges. On the development side, new engineering approaches to both selective extraction of tissue components and cross-links are increasingly defining the new direction. In order to dramatically improve the performance of bioprosthetic heart valves, these new developments need to lead to a broad consensus for a paradigm shift in a hitherto rather stagnant field of medical research.