Australian doctors successfully test heart valve technology The treatment, using a manoeuvrable synthetic heart valve, lasts about 90 minutes and could be commonly performed within two years. It allows doctors to replace the aortic valve via the insertion of a synthetic valve through a small hole in the groin and into the heart. The valve opens once inside the heart and can be easily repositioned. The treatment is used for a condition known as aortic stenosis, which commonly affects older people and involves a failure of the aortic valve to open properly. The valve, which controls blood flow into the aorta, opens about 100,000 times a day. Eleven elderly Australian patients have undergone the procedure with a 100 per cent success rate. Insertions of the Israeli-manufactured valve will now be trialled in 16 hospitals in Britain, Germany, France and Australia. Professor Ian Meredith, from Melbourne's Monash Medical Clinic, said the synthetic valve can be withdrawn and repositioned if necessary during the procedure. "This may be a huge new step for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis in the elderly," Professor Meredith said. This is a tremendous start and it really is a major cultural shift in the way we are going to do heart valve replacements in the future ... This will have a significant impact on patients all around the world because this is a very common problem in the elderly. Aortic stenosis decreases blood flow from the heart and causes breathlessness and chest pain; unless treated, it can cause death in about 50 per cent of people.