BME MS Thesis Defense: Amy Cameron

Title: "A Transcatheter Annuloplasty Band System for Tricuspid Valve Repair"

Advisory Committee: Chair - Brianne Connizzo, PhD Member 2: Tommaso Ranzani, PhD (Advisor) Member 3: Christopher Chen, MD, PhD Member 4: Dominic Recco, MD

Abstract: Tricuspid valve disease has traditionally been under-studied and has a lack of safe and effective stand-alone treatment options. Here we present a transcatheter annuloplasty band that advances the technology of minimally-invasive treatment options for patients with tricuspid regurgitation. The band and deployment system work in conjunction with a soft robotic catheter that was previously developed by Rogatin sky et al for right atrial procedures, and further developed by Yañez et al to implant anchors around the annulus of the tricuspid valve. This soft robot has demonstrated an improvement over traditional catheter procedures because its compliance lets it hold steady pressure against the wall of the heart as it beats, and it has been shown to reduce both procedure time and x-ray fluoroscopy duration during coronary sinus cannulation. The annuloplasty band and deployment system take advantage of the soft robotic catheter by magnetically docking with the robot to allow it to steer to the anchor site and implant anchors through the band into the annulus. It has a band that can be adjusted to fit a wide range of annulus sizes and a two-way cinching mechanism that allows the surgeon to tighten and loosen the band as needed under beating heart conditions all while monitoring the regurgitation. We also present a prototype one-way steerable secondary catheter used to introduce the band into the right atrium. The catheter allows efficient ex-vivo and in-vitro testing of this procedure. This band system advances technology towards safer and more effective treatments for many patients with tricuspid valve disease.