October 28, 2013 — A new valve recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now gives heart patients a new way to manage their disease without having to undergo open heart surgery.?
The Melody Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve, which is delivered through a catheter and requires only a small incision, is a new technique that is bringing new hope to these patients with congenital heart disease.
C. Huie Lin, M.D., Ph.D., adult congenital heart disease specialist, recently implanted the first Melody Valve at Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, in a young man who had already had three open heart surgeries for congenital heart disease. ??“More than a million people live with adult congenital heart disease in the U.S., and we expect that number to grow by 5 percent each year,” Lin said. “I believe this new Melody Valve is a great new option for people who were no longer candidates for surgery.”
Lin said the Melody Valve helps patients who have already had an open heart surgery for congenital heart disease and have developed problems with the valve leaking or becoming blocked.??The valve, made for the right side of the heart, is designed to be implanted inside of the existing valve. Made from the internal jugular vein of a cow, the valve is sewn onto a stent and the stent is then put onto a balloon catheter. The catheter is then placed through the femoral vein and advanced to the pulmonary valve position. The balloon then expands and deploys the valve.??“Because it’s implanted inside of an existing valve, a new Melody valve can also be implanted in an existing Melody valve if it’s not working properly,” Lin said. “It’s a revolutionary technique.”
For more information: www.medtronic.com, www.houstonmethodist.org
November 17, 2025 
