sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral . please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources . october 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message edwards lifesciences type public nyse ew industry medical device founded 1958 headquarters irvine california united states key people michael a. mussallem chairman & ceo products heart valves critical care technology cardiac surgery technology revenue 2.49 billion 2015 number of employees 8 700 website edwards.com edwards lifesciences is an american medical equipment company specializing in artificial heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring . it is mostly known for a transcatheter aortic heart valve made of bovine tissue within a collapsible stainless steel stent deployed via catheter . 1 their sapien product is an fda approved device for percutaneous aortic valve replacement . 2 it is publicly traded on the nyse under the symbol ew . contents 1 history 2 activity 3 references 4 external links history edit edwards lifesciences roots date to 1958 when miles lowell edwards set out to build the first artificial heart . edwards was a 60 year old recently retired engineer holding 63 patents in an array of industries with an entrepreneurial spirit and a dream of helping patients with heart disease . his fascination with healing the heart was sparked in his teens when he suffered two bouts of a disease called rheumatic fever which can scar heart valves and eventually cause the heart to fail . with a background in hydraulics and fuel pump operations edwards believed the human heart could be mechanized . he presented the idea to dr. albert starr a young surgeon at the university of oregon medical school who thought the idea was too complex . instead starr encouraged edwards to focus first on developing an artificial heart valve for which there was an immediate need . after just two years the first starr edwards mitral valve was designed developed tested and successfully placed in a patient . newspapers around the world reported on what they termed a miraculous heart surgery . this innovation spawned a company edwards laboratories which set up shop in santa ana california not far from where edwards lifesciences corporate headquarters is located today . in 1966 edwards laboratories was purchased by american hospital supply corporation and became american edwards laboratories . then in 1985 american edwards was acquired by baxter international inc. in early 2000 the company was spun off as an independent publicly held corporation and began trading on the new york stock exchange under the symbol ew . 3 activity edit today edwards continues as a leader in the field of tissue replacement heart valves and repair products and advanced hemodynamic monitoring which have helped treat and manage more than 2 million patients worldwide . each year more than 300 000 valve replacements are performed worldwide through open heart surgery utilizing either bioprosthetic tissue valves or mechanical valves . edwards products include tissue replacement heart valves sold under such brand names as carpentier edwards perimount and carpentier edwards perimount magna and also valve repair products that are used by surgeons to fix instead of replace a patient s valve . 4 the edwards sapien family of heart valves are delivered via a procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement tavr . this procedure enables the placement of a collapsible heart valve into the body via a tube based delivery system catheter that can be inserted through multiple access routes including either an incision in the leg transfemoral or in between the ribs and to be threaded up to the heart transapical or through the front of the chest and then through a small hole in the aorta transaortic . the valve is designed to replace a patient s diseased native aortic valve without traditional open heart surgery and while the heart continues to beat avoiding the need to stop the patient s heart and connect them to a heart lung machine that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and the patient s breathing during surgery cardiopulmonary bypass . edwards also manufactures products for vascular therapy along with hemodynamic monitoring devices for measuring cardiovascular performance during surgery and in the icu . hemodynamic monitoring is the measurement of blood circulation and cardiac function that allows clinicians to evaluate whether enough oxygen is being delivered to the organs and tissues . among these is the swan ganz catheter . originally developed for patients with acute myocardial infarction it is now used in anesthesia and critical care units . healthcare providers use this monitoring to detect changes or problems in a patient s health which allows for more informed immediate treatment decisions . to facilitate on pump cardiac surgery procedures through smaller incisions edwards also offers a cardiac surgery product line comprising soft tissue retractors venous and arterial cannulae aortic occlusion venting and coronary sinus catheters as well as reusable instruments for performing minimally invasive valvular procedures . 5 references edit visualizing the sapien heart valve american society of mechanical engineers asme edward lifesciences receives fda approval expanding access to sapien heart valves the wall street journal online http www.edwards.com sharedpages pages ourhistory.aspx http www.edwards.com sharedpages pages products.aspx http www.edwards.com sharedpages pages products.aspx external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title edwards lifesciences & oldid 729108139 categories medical equipment manufacturerscompanies listed on the new york stock exchangehidden categories articles lacking reliable references from october 2014all articles lacking reliable 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