Percutaneous implantation of an aortic valve prosthesis.

Recently, percutaneous aortic valve implantation has become an alternative technique to surgical valve replacement in patient at high risk for surgery. Our animal experimentation evaluated the technical feasibility of aortic valve replacement using a bovine pericardium valve sutured on a self-expandable stent in a sheep model. Precise implantation with satisfactory attachment on the adjacent tissues and absence of migration was obtain in 8 out of 14 animals. This study confirmed the feasibility of the endovascular implantation of a pericardium valve sutured on a self-expandable stent in a sheep model.