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30 years on - Leeds man is still a lifesaver
IT must have sounded like the stuff of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Leeds-based heart surgeon David Watson began work on a replacement heart valve made from pig tissue.
It caused controversy, but 30 years on his radical device is now being used routinely by doctors across the UK and the world.
At a celebration to mark three decades since it was first used in a life-saving op, scientists who now make the valves in Leeds opened the doors to their laboratories.
And guest of honour was the valve's pioneer Mr Watson.
He said: "It's a long way from when my research team first began looking into the idea in a lab at the old Killingbeck Hospital.
"At the time, scientists from across the world were looking at using animal components in replacement heart valves. The important issue was to ensure it would be durable.
"The first one we really looked at was a pig's valve because it was so similar to the human one. Thankfully it worked very well, although it still took us years to get to a stage where it could be used in an operation.
Over the years it has been through a few changes and it is now the Rolls Royce of replacement heart valves.
"And I'm very pleased that it is still being made in Leeds."
The aspire™ valve was first created with funding from Leeds-based Heart Research UK, an independent charity of which Mr Watson was a founding member.
It is now manufactured by Vascutek Ltd in Swillington and is assembled under strict conditions.
The valve is roughly the size of a 2p piece and, although removed from a pig's heart, it is no longer living tissue when it is implanted into the patient in open heart surgery.
The pig's valve has huge benefits over traditional artificial valves – its structure is so close to that of the original, the patient does not need to take anti-coagulation drugs.
Barbara Harpham, national director of Heart Research UK said: "This is a real Yorkshire success story. Not only was the valve developed 30 years ago by a surgeon working at Killingbeck Hospital, the research was funded by Yorkshire's own heart charity, Heart Research UK."
In 2006-2007 more than 3,500 people in the UK had heart valves replaced.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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