London, the UK – On September 24, MicroPort Shanghai CardioFlow Medtech Co., Ltd. ("MicroPort® CardioFlow") attended the PCR London Valves to display its in-house developed VitaFlow™ Transcatheter Aortic Valve and Delivery System ("VitaFlow™"). PCR London Valves is the world's largest educational meeting focused on the care of patients with valvular heart disease and specifically addressing percutaneous valve interventions. More than 3,000 experts and scholars from over 60 countries attended the congress.
During the "Innovators Day" on the first day, the representative of MicroPort® CardioFlow delivered a speech of "the Engineering Challenges in Bicuspid Aortic Valves" in the session of "TAVI Unfinished Business." The report contained two parts – the first part analyzed the engineering challenges of TAVI products in treating bicuspid aortic valve patients from five angles including incomplete valve expansion, paravalvular leak, annulus rupture, instable valve deployment and long-term durability of the valve. The second part combined engineering science with the clinical needs of bicuspid aortic valve patients to demonstrate the excellent efficacy of VitaFlow™ in the treatment of bicuspid aortic valve, due to its innovative valve design that can effectively reduce the paravalvular leak.
In the session of "TAVI in Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease" on the third day, Professor Nicola Piazza of McGill University Health Center in Canada and Professor Darren Mylotte of University Hospital and National University of Ireland, Galway, respectively delivered speeches of "Defining the Issues – Pre-Procedural Imaging" and "Defining the Issues – Valve Implantation". They shared their clinical experience in using VitaFlow™ to treat patients with bicuspid aortic valve in terms of pre-procedural imaging analysis and valve implantation, which attracted wide attention from the audience. Other renowned cardiologists including Thomas Modine of Lille University Hospital in France and Professor Mao Chen of West China Hospital of Sichuan University also spoke highly of the excellent performance of VitaFlow™ in treating patients with bicuspid aortic valve and heavily calcified leaflet. Since VitaFlow™ was mentioned so many times, some experts called it "MicroPort® Session."
During the congress, several well-known cardiologists, including Bernard Prendergas of St Thomas' Hospital, Stephan Windecker of Bern University Hospital, Professor Mao Chen and Professor Yuan Feng of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Professor Ruiyan Zhang of Ruijin Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Christoph Naber of Contilia Heart and Vascular Center in Essen of Germany, as well as Didier Tchétché, Nicola Piazza, Thomas Modine, and Darren Mylotte of of Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse of France, visited MicroPort® CardioFlow booth and tried out VitaFlow™ II Transcatheter Aortic Valve and Delivery System. They highly recognized VitaFlow™'s efficacy in treating bicuspid aortic valve and the innovative designs of its delivery system such as motorized handle and omnidirectional navigation. Many of them said they looked forward to the market launch of VitaFlow™ to benefit more patients. VitaFlow™ has completed one-year clinical follow-up in China and it is expected that the excellent outcome of clinical trials in China will lay a solid foundation for the clinical studies of VitaFlow™ II in China and Europe in 2018. In August 2016, VitaFlow™ was granted the Green-Path by the China Food and Drug Administration ("CFDA"), a special fast-track procedure for innovative medical devices to gain CFDA approval, and is expected to gain CFDA approval in 2018.