Image credit- bioscience technology
The Harpoon Mitral Valve Repair System (H-MVRS) is an image-guided device based on technology developed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM).
A new study has found that the pioneering device to repair heart valves is safe and effective, and can reduce the invasiveness and side effects of conventional mitral valve surgery.
The device allows the surgeons to precisely and effectively reduce the degree of mitral regurgitation without using an open-heart procedure.
Surgeons insert the device into the beating heart through a tiny opening in the ribcage and, using echocardiographic imaging, guide it to the surface of the defective mitral flaps. When the surgeon determines the optimal placement for an artificial cord, the device is actuated and a specially designed needle makes a tiny hole and sends the cord material through the flap.
The device was previously tested in Poland. U.S. testing of the device may begin in 2018.
The faculty at UMSOM has increasingly engaged in entrepreneurial and technology transfer activity, with significant increase in the number of U.S. and foreign patents issued, technology inventions licensed and start-up companies formed.
