Cryopreservation and Freeze-Drying of Heart Valves for Replacement Surgery.

Kelvin G M Brockbank, Willem F Wolkers, Shangping Wang

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Article in Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Kelvin G M BrockbankPreservation Technologies, LifeNet Health, North Charleston, SC, USA. Kelvin_Brockbank@LifeNetHealth.org.

Willem F WolkersUnit for Reproductive Medicine - Clinic for Horses, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.

Shangping WangDepartment of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Malfunctioning heart valves can cause severe health problems, which, if left untreated, can lead to death. Heart valves can be replaced with biological heart valve constructs obtained from human or animal origin that closely resemble the properties of native heart valves. Tissue banking protocols are needed to ensure off-the-shelf availability in clinical settings. Heart valve tissue constructs may contain cells, or they can be decellularized to remove the immunogenic factors associated with cellular components. In order to preserve cells in the tissues, vitrification or freezing cryopreservation strategies can be used, whereas freeze-drying is particularly suitable to preserve decellularized heart valves. Here, we provide freezing, vitrification, and freeze-drying protocols to preserve heart valve conduits for replacement surgery. The protocols are described for porcine heart valves, but procedures can easily be adapted for material obtained from other species.

Indexed as

CryopreservationHeart Valve ProsthesisHeart ValvesAnimalsCryoprotective AgentsFreeze DryingHumansSwineVitrificationCryoprotective AgentsCryopreservationFreeze-dryingHeart valvesMatrix implantsVitrification

Identifiers

PMID42732521

DOI10.1016/j.actbio.2017.11.041

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.