| Cardious is an emerging medical device company that is developing a new heart valve therapy that allows a surgeon to fix an ailing aortic heart valve without replacing it, but by bypassing it. The Cardious product, an implantable graft and a related surgical instrument, enables a surgeon to install a commercially available heart valve outside the heart by connecting a graft (with an artificial heart valve slipped into it) from the left ventricle directly to the nearby aorta. This bloodless “re-routing”, performed on a beating heart through a small cut between the ribs, permanently redirects blood flow around the damaged valve. Because the heart never stops beating, there are likely to be fewer complications and a shorter hospital stay. This means better patient outcome and lower overall cost, especially for the 75,000 patients annually who are diagnosed with aortic valve disease but due to other life threatening conditions cannot be considered for traditional valve surgery. |
