Heart Valve Diseases: A Case Study

Cardiovascular diseases are the worldwide health care issue representing 30% of mortalities. Heart valve diseases are life threatening affecting ~2.5% of the general population in economically developed countries (V.T. Nkomo et al. 2006). Approximately 100,000 heart valve replacements are performed each year in the U.S. It is estimated that patients requiring heart valve replacements will be tripled from 290,000 in 2003 to 850,000 by 2050 (Yacoub and Takkenberg 2005). It is estimated that 5 million patients in India are suffering from heart valve disease and every year 50, 000 new patients are diagnosed with heart valve disease. Heart valves may become impaired either due to tightening of the valve preventing forward flow of blood which

Mechanical prostheses are mainly made of Pyrolytic Carbon (PyC) in combination with metallic and polymeric components. Approximately 95% of all currently used mechanical prosthetic heart valves are made completely or partially using PyC. Therefore, PyC is regarded as one of the leading materials for the making of mechanical heart valves. Although durable these devices are associated with severe risks on the valve itself like formation of thrombus leading to thromboembolic complications and endocarditis. The other main risk connected with MHV models are permanent and long lasting anticoagulation treatment which may lead to adverse reactions like bleeding and complications like hemorrhage occurring at 1 % patients per year (Aschermann et al.

The sizes of nanomaterials are similar to most biological molecules and they can be of great use in biomedical applications. In the past few years reports have appeared in the application of metal nanoparticles for the control of microbial infections when used on surfaces of biomedical devices and implants. The antimicrobial properties of both silver and copper nanoparticles have been investigated earlier after coating on to various biomaterials in the last decade (ref). In the last few years, extensive research on metallic nanoparticles has proved their potential as antimicrobial agents. Among these metals the most widely studied metals for their antimicrobial nature are silver and copper (Ingle et al 2008 and Umer et al 2012). Copper and silver nanoparticles have gained considerable attention due to their significant and broad spectrum bioactivity. Currently these nanoparticles find utility as antimicrobial formulations, biomedical and surgical devices. Silver ions have been used as an antibacterial component in the coatings of devices employed in medical procedures. Silver and copper in the form of nano particles is also known to exhibit strong bactericidal effects on gram positive and gram negative