Q: What is the average life span of a bovine aortic heart valve replacement?

A:The two main prosthetic valves include mechanical and bioprosthetic (tissue) heart valves. The tissue valves may be of human tissue or animal tissue. The most commonly used animal tissues are porcine, which is valve tissue from a pig, and bovine pericardial tissue, which is from a cow. Both porcine and bovine valves have good durability and usually last for ten to fifteen years.