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Valvublator

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vallogoProduct Name:  Valvublator with MyoValve

Inventor:  Howard J. Leonhardt

Working in Collaboration With:  Dr. Mark Cunningham, Dept. Cardiac Surgery USC

Assigned To:  Leonhardt Ventures

Incubated At:  The Cal-X Stars Business Accelerator, Inc., Santa Monica, CA

Date of Invention:  Original Design 1987, Enhanced Design 2012

Product Description:   The Valvublator is an 8FR deflecting tip catheter with a special tip for decalcifying and cell sodding heart valve leaflets so a patient may keep their own heart valve instead of getting an implant.
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Dental Burr at Tip – For cleaning plaque from leaflets and valve ring orifice
Ultrasound Transmitter – For cleaning  calcification plaque from leaflets and viewiing
Electrical Energy Transmitter – For causing heart valve leaflets to release SDF-1 (a homing signal for stem cells) to increase leaflet strength and to enhance healing after procedure.
Infusion Lumen – For cleaning plaque from leaflets with biologically compatible solvent like liquids and for clearing area for viewing
Optical Lens Viewing Port – For viewing the cleaning, cell sodding and healing procedures
Micro needle Tip – For injecting cells into leaflets to reinforce their strength
Spaying apparatus tip – For spraying heart valve leaflets with healing gel after treatment

Brief History:  I visited Dr. Domingos Moraes in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 1987 with Dr. Ivan Casagande and Dr. Richard Bianco (from the University of Minnesota) to view the implantation of the LABCOR or BIOCOR porcine heart valve via open chest surgery.  We were beginning work on our percutaneous heart valve invention at the time which we later patented.  The viewing of the open chest operation was supposed to guide us on what was needed to convert to a percutaneous approach.  I watched the whole procedure and he did not implant the heart valve.  After the procedure he explained that often times when he gets to the heart valve he sees that he can clean the calcification from the leaflets and orifice with just a few simple scrapes with his scalpel.  He explained that patients are always better off with their own heart valve than getting an artificial implant if that is a choice option.  Right after that case I drew up the design of a dental burr on the end of a deflecting tip catheter to reduce the need for open chest surgery.  I met with David Lundin of Boston Scientific and shared the design and asked for Boston Scientific to collaborate with us in the development.
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Heart Valve Decalcification – Surgeon Q & A with Doctor …

Mitral valve repair with decalcification of the annulus and …

Mitral Valve Repair is Feasible Following Extensive Decalcification and Reconstruction of the Atrioventricular Groove
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