Surgeons at The Christ Hospital Heart & Vascular Institute in Cincinnati have completed Ohio’s first implantation of a newly FDA-approved heart valve built specifically for the tricuspid position, a part of the heart that has long lacked a purpose-designed replacement option. The procedure used the Triformis valve from Edwards Lifesciences, and it was led by Dr. Geoffrey Answini, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the institute.
The tricuspid valve controls blood flow into the heart’s upper right chamber, and when it fails, blood flows backward, eventually leading to heart failure if left unaddressed, according to the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery. As reported by WKRC, the Triformis valve is designed specifically for patients who need tricuspid valve replacement and is currently the only FDA-approved tricuspid valve available. Answini said the device will have a huge impact for patients by giving them the best technology available, per the station’s report.
A Device Shaped for a Valve Doctors Long Overlooked
The Triformis valve features a D-shaped ring that mimics the shape the tricuspid valve takes as disease progresses, and that ring design helps reduce the need for pacemaker placement, the same account notes. Edwards Lifesciences received FDA approval for the valve in May 2026, marking the first time federal regulators authorized a surgical heart valve engineered specifically for the tricuspid position, according to MedTech Dive.
The valve uses Resilia tissue technology, which is intended to reduce calcification and help it last longer than previous biologic valves, per WKRC’s report. FDA regulatory documentation indicates the Resilia tissue’s glycerol preservation and anti-calcification capping process yielded 72% lower calcium accumulation than conventional bovine pericardial valves in pre-clinical studies. Calcification has historically been a primary cause of biological heart valve degradation over time.
Why the Tricuspid Valve Was Called Forgotten
For decades, the tricuspid valve was dubbed the “forgotten valve” among cardiologists, largely because of high historic surgical mortality estimates and a lack of custom-built devices, per the Society of Thoracic Surgeons database analysis. Historical mortality estimates for tricuspid operations exceeded 10%, causing many surgeries to be avoided or delayed. A 2024 study published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery found the predicted operative mortality risk for isolated tricuspid valve replacement is actually 5.7%, challenging those long-standing assumptions…