Edwards Lifesciences Corp. unveiled a new option in its heart valve franchise on Tuesday.
The Irvine-based valve maker’s Ascendra procedure uses an aortic heart valve replacement system that is less invasive than other operations.
Edwards said a surgical team from St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, used the company’s Cribier-Edwards less-invasive heart valve to perform surgery on a patient’s beating heart.
The Ascendra procedure didn’t require a cardiopulmonary bypass,a common technique in heart valve replacement surgeries.
Samuel Lichtenstein, St. Paul’s director of cardiovascular surgery, said the technique “should reduce the the recovery time and complications associated with traditional, open-heart surgery.”
Edwards jumped into the market for less-invasive heart valves in late 2003 when it spent $125 million to buy Percutaneous Valve Technologies, a startup that was considered one of the pacesetters in the field.
Edwards picked up the Cribier-Edwards heart valve in the acquisition.