Biocompatible Coatings for Vascular Grafts and Blood Contacting Surfaces

There are currently 300,000 heart valve replacements each year worldwide and this number is estimated to triple by 2050. The materials most often utilized for these replacement valves can have substantial drawbacks for patient health. Bioprosthetic heart valves have shorter functional lifespans when compared to non-biological mechanical heart valves and can be substantially more expensive to manufacture. Mechanical heart valves are much less expensive because of their ability to be mass produced, but are much more prone to cause thrombosis. Patients receiving mechanical valves usually spend a lifetime taking anti-coagulation drugs.

In developing nations such as India, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a rapidly growing epidemic and today >60% of the world’s heart disease patients are Indian (World Health Organization, 2012 Statistical Update). Indians are more prone to CVD and the disease manifests itself in a variety of forms among Indian citizens – as coronary artery disease due to lifestyle habits and smoking in adults; as heart valve disease due to rheumatic fever in adults and teenagers; and as congenital birth defects of the heart in infants.

An estimated 2.2 million patients have heart valve disease secondary to rheumatic fever. The most promising current advancements – catheter-delivered prostheses – rely on tissue valves with unacceptable durability for the young HV patient typical in the developing world. This makes our technology particularly suitable given its potential for low-cost manufacturing without compromising performance.