John Toftegaard week 6

 This past week I spent more time working in the heart catheterization lab watching valve replacements. This week involved some very interesting cases that brought to light some challenges that would be worth looking into in the future for device development work. The one case that really stood out was for a younger patient with aortic valve issues. In older patients the issue would be resolved by simply replacing the valve with a trans catheter prosthetic but in this situation that would be pretty difficult. Since the patient was younger their valve had very little calcium buildup. The failure of the valve was due to congenital malformations instead of stenosis. The lack of calcium meant the valve prosthetic would have less friction to stay in place over time and simply putting a normal valve in would not last. The doctors found a creative solution to this by over sizing a valve and creating ways for a new valve to grip onto the area. This was an interesting way to solve the problem and worked well in the end but eventually some devices would need to be designed to help in more situations like this.

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