The First in the World!

Recently, a multidisciplinary team for interventional treatment of valvular disease  led by Prof. Chen Mao, Director of the Department of Cardiology at West China Hospital of Sichuan University, successfully implemented the world’s first fully releasable, retrievable self-expandable transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system, Venus-PowerX, in clinical application, marking another milestone in the interdisciplinary and medical-industrial integration of Sichuan University. 

The multidisciplinary team for interventional treatment of valvular disease at West China Hospital, Sichuan University

Since April 16, 2012, when the first TAVR procedure was carried out in central and western China, Prof. Chen Mao’s team has given full play to the advantages of the clinically based medical-industrial integration model in the past 10 years, actively joined hands with enterprises to lead or participate in the development of more than 10 transcatheter heart valve interventional devices, including Venus-PowerX, and their pre-market clinical trials, and successfully promoted the application of the first domestic TAVR device with independent intellectual property rights in China, breaking the monopoly of imported devices.

The team participated in the development of the world's first fully releasable, retrievable, self-expandable dry-tissue TAVR system and completed its first clinical application.

The team was the first in China to carry out TAVR via subclavian artery accessand transcaval access TAVR, and successfully performed the first human implantation of Venibri, the world's first preloaded dry tissue valve, realizing the ready-for-use TAVR valve. Prof. Horst Sievert,a well-known structural heart expert, highly praised the technology, “Dry tissue technology has become another important milestone since the first ever TAVR case in 2002, and it turned a complex TAVR procedure into a relatively easy one, like a PCI procedure. I believe physicians and patients will broadly benefit from this new technology.” The team has developed a systematic “West China experience” in the treatment of TAVR for mitral aortic stenosis, an international challenge, and led the development of the world's first expert consensus on TAVR for mitral aortic stenosis.

At the same time, the team has actively led the clinical application of transcatheter pulmonary valve and transcatheter mitral and tricuspid valve interventions, successfully performing the first transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement, transcatheter mitral valve repair and transcatheter tricuspid valve repair in central and western China, as well as the first transcatheter mitral valve replacement via intra-atrial septum access in Asia.

The team successfully performed Asia's first transcatheter mitral valve replacement via intra-atrial septum access.