A partial heart transplant of donor heart valves is an effective and safe treatment for babies born with congenital heart disorders impacting key heart valves, according to research led by Duke University.

“The treatment of heart valve disease in children continues to be a lifelong challenge, as current heart valve implants do not grow with the patient,” write lead investigator Joseph Turek, MD, PhD, a researcher and pediatric heart surgeon at Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues in JAMA .

Congenital heart disease impacts around one percent of all births in the U.S., approximately 40,000 babies per year, with the majority of cases involving some form of heart valve defect.

Valve replacement surgery with mechanical or bioprosthetic valves is a common procedure in both adult

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