Bonhoeffer et al.1 marked the beginning of transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR) in 2000 as a rapid innovation with significant progress toward minimizing complications and providing an alternative therapeutic approach. Since then, the use of TPVR for treating the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) or bioprosthetic valve dysfunction has increased rapidly2,3. To date, the TPVR devices currently available on the market have provided satisfying long-term and short-term results for patients with RVOT dysfunction4,5,6. Furthermore, various types of TPVR valves including decellularized heart valves and stem cell-driven heart valves are being developed and evaluated, and their feasibility has been demonstrated in preclinical large animal models7,8. Aortic valve reconstruction using an autologous pericardium was first reported by Dr. Duran, for which three consecutive bulges of different sizes were used as templates to guide the shaping of the pericardium according to the dimensions of the aortic annulus, with the survival rate of 84.53% at the follow-up of 60 months9. The Ozaki procedure, which is considered a valve repair procedure rather than a valve replacement procedure, involves replacing aortic valve leaflets with the glutaraldehyde-treated autologous pericardium; however, when compared to Dr. Duran's procedure, it improved significantly in measuring the diseased valve with a template to cut fixed pericardium10 and satisfactory results were not only achieved from the adult cases but also pediatric cases11. Currently, only the Ross procedure can provide a living valve substitute for the patient who has a diseased aortic valve with obvious advantages in terms of avoiding long-term anticoagulation, growth potential, and low risk of endocarditis12. But re-interventions may be required for the pulmonary autograft and right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit after such a complex surgical procedure.
The current bioprosthetic valves that are available for clinical use inevitably degrade over time due to graft-versus-host reactions to the xenogeneic porcine or bovine tissues13. Valve-related calcification, degradation, and insufficiency could necessitate repeated interventions after several years, especially in young patients who would need to undergo multiple pulmonary valve replacements in their lifetime due to the lack of growth of the valves, a property inherent to current bioprosthetic materials14. Furthermore, the currently available, essentially non-regenerative, TPVR valves have major limitations such as thromboembolic and bleeding complications, as well as limited durability due to adverse tissue remodeling which could lead to leaflet retraction and universal valvular dysfunction15,16.
It is hypothesized that developing a native-like autologous pulmonary valve (APV) mounted onto a self-expandable Nitinol stent for TPVR with the characteristics of self-repair, regeneration, and growth capacity would ensure physiological performance and long-term functionality. And the non-toxic crosslinker treated autologous pericardium can awake from the harvesting and manufacturing procedures. To this end, this preclinical trial was conducted to implant a stented autologous pulmonary valve in an adult sheep model with the aim of developing ideal interventional valvular substitutes and a low-risk procedural methodology to improve the transcatheter therapy of RVOT dysfunction. In this paper, sheep J was selected to illustrate the comprehensive TPVR procedure including pericardiectomy and trans jugular vein implantation of an autologous heart valve.