ABSTRACT
The Quadrileaflet Mitral Valve (QMV) is a stentless chordally supported mitral bioprosthesis with a post-aldehyde tanning treatment that retards calcification and encourages spontaneous host endothelial coverage. By virtue of its chordal support it automatically re-establishes annular-papillary connection. The design and its validation have been described previously.1-4
The premises of the design were several:
1. Aldehyde tanning effectively minimizes the antigenicity of xenograft collagen-based tissues; however, residual unbound aldehydes are associated with a marked tendency to calcification and a level of bioincompatibility that inhibits endothelial growth.
