Structural Heart Components:

Transcatheter Aortic, Mitral, Tricuspid, and Pulmonic Valves: When the human heart valve becomes severely diseased and can no longer function adequately to pump and prevent leakage of blood, it may become necessary to replace one or more of those valves with an artificial version. Transcatheter valves require thin, compliant fabrics to meet the demands of today’s minimally invasive transcatheter procedures. Transcatheter valves often require fabrics to prevent paravalvular leakage (PVL) while maintaining a low profile design to support small delivery catheter requirements. Thin, low permeability woven fabrics are often used to achieve the desired requirements. Thin knit fabrics can also be used to support elimination of PVL. While ATEX can provide flat tapes, tubular fabrics typically provide further improvements in assembly operations and can contribute to the reduction of PVL. Custom laser cut components can be provided that align with the valve frame geometry, further simplifying assembly operations.

Valve skirt attachment via sutures can be challenging and time consuming, especially when managing the lack of contrast between white UHMWPE sutures and white valve skirt components. ATEX can provide custom dyed UHMWPE using FDA approved colorants, further simplifying the assembly process and by marking the points at which to sew through its fabric marking capabilities.

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Embolic Protection Devices:

This is a class of products that plays an important role in preventing stroke during procedures such as TAVR. An embolic protection device acts as a physical barrier, preventing particles and debris from traveling to the brain, lungs and kidneys where they can occlude critical passageways for blood and oxygen. Such occlusions can lead to difficulty breathing, stroke and, in severe cases, even death. ATEX Technologies can provide highly engineered textiles that can facilitate the capture of these particles by precisely controlling pore size, material type and overall dimensions. The key in engineering high performing textiles for this application is to manufacture textiles that can capture particles of many sizes effectively while also allowing for the flow of blood through the “filter”.

Stent Grafts:

Stent grafts are similar to the grafts discussed previously but these products typically have a self-expanding frame that is covered with a knit or woven material to seal the vessel walls and prevent leaks. Often used in minimally invasive endovascular aortic repair, stent grafts are critical devices used to heal aortic aneurysms. As with general vascular grafts, the format of the stent graft can be varied, sometimes with multiple branches depending upon the severity of the repair that must be made. The textile covering for the flexible frame can be knit or woven.