Philipp Bonhoeffer

First transcatheter valve procedure

Born in Germany, Philipp Bonhoeffer studied medicine in Italy, at the “Università degli Studi” in Milan. He learned pediatric catheterization under Dr. Mario Carminati.
 
Philipp Bonhoeffer performed the first transcatheter pulmonary valve implant in September 2000, 18 months prior to the first TAVI procedure.  He had the idea after a clinical failure with a bare metal stent placed in a stenotic conduit. He devised a way to suture a bovine jugular venous valve inside a stent, crimp it on a balloon, and re-expand it, demonstrating that valve function could be preserved after implantation. Initial prototypes and first clinical cases used a stent from NuMED and a jugular valve from VenPro, as he worked with Medtronic to further develop the Melody Valve for patients whose RV to PA conduit, or pulmonary bioprosthetic valve had become stenotic and dysfunctional.  He also worked on another valve, Harmony TP (under clinical investigation), for patients with pulmonary regurgitation not requiring a surgically implanted conduit at birth.

One of Prof. Bonhoeffer’s first prototypes of a valve stent - 2000

The Medtronic Melody^TM transcatheter pulmonary valve