The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : New lease of life for kids with cardiac ailments

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Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

New lease of life for kids with cardiac ailments

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A joint venture launched by the Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) and the Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB) here on Tuesday to develop de-cellularised animal tissue for cardio-vascular applications is expected to be a major relief to indigent children who suffer from cardiac ailments. It is expected to bring down the cost of surgery considerably.

Congenital heart diseases are seen among eight in 1,000 births and 33 to 50 per cent of the patients need early surgical correction. As much as 10 to 15 per cent need valved conduit. Congenital heart disease is said to be the cause for approximately 10 per cent of infant mortality in the country.

At present, there are not many materials to conduct critical surgery for children. Heart valves made from pig’s valves are being used for cardiac surgery for the last three decades. However, these tissues are not used in children as they get calcified within three to five years of implantation.

The joint venture aims at producing de-cellularised animal tissue such as ‘bovine pericardium’ and ‘bovine jugular vein’ for paediatric cardiac surgery. Better tissue integration and durability are some of the main advantages.

Due to the absence of cells, the tissue will not induce any immune rejection problems. The animal tissue will be sourced from six- to eight-month-old male calf reared at the KLDB farm and slaughtered for meat.

Care will be taken to ensure that it is sourced from a ‘low risk herd’ or well monitored herd. At present, animal tissue of biomedical quality is not produced anywhere in the country. The board has modern dairy farms complying with the quality system requirements of ISO 9001.

It has been proposed to upgrade the facility at the board’s farm at Kulathupuzha to produce animal tissue complying with ISO 12442. A team of experts at the SCTIMST will de-cellularise the tissue produced by the board using indigenous process. The safety and efficacy of the tissues will be further confirmed by a series of tests.

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