Early European experience with the Venus P-valve®: filling the gap in percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation.

AIMS: Our aim was to report the first five cases of percutaneous implantation of the Venus P-valve® in Europe.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We successfully implanted Venus P-valves in five consecutive cases in patients whose anatomy was thought to be unfavourable for currently available percutaneous valve prostheses and who had relative contraindications to surgical valve replacement. The procedures were performed at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. The primary diagnosis was variable with variable pulmonary artery morphology. The median age was 14 years (range 12-62 yrs). There was no mortality and no major morbidity, with satisfactory haemodynamic and angiographic outcomes in all patients. Post-procedural follow-up (median follow-up 8.5 months, range three to 15 months) with echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging showed no restenosis or regurgitation with significant improvement in the right ventricular end-diastolic volumes.

CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results show that the Venus P-valve can be safely and efficaciously used in dilated right ventricular outflow tracts of varying morphology. Rigorous trials will be required to evaluate this valve before more widespread use.