As we have discussed before, most minimally invasive treatments for heart valve disease continue to show encouraging results. Recently, additional results for high-tech devices from Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic and Evalve have been posted.

Specific to the MitraClip for mitral valve repair, I just saw an announcement which detailed the results of 107 patients for the nonrandomized Everest 1 and 2 studies.

• A full 66% of patients did not require surgery and maintained a mitral regurgitation grade of less than 2 at 12 months, the primary efficacy end point of the study.
• In all, 32 patients needed mitral valve replacement surgery within 3.2 years of receiving the MitraClip. Of these procedures, 84% were successful.
• 9%, had a major adverse event during the follow-up period, including one non-procedure-related death.
• Overall procedural success was 74%, and 64% left hospital with a mitral-regurgitation grade of 1 or less, as opposed to grade 3 or 4 at study entry.
• In all, 32 patients needed mitral-valve surgery within 3.2 years of receiving the MitraClip.

“Surgical options were preserved,” the authors, led by Dr Ted Feldman (Evanston Hospital, IL), write in the August 18, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. “The fact that there were no in-cath lab deaths during this procedure in over 100 patients compared with, for example, stent therapy, shows that this is acceptable in terms of safety, all the more so given that this is a brand new intervention,” Feldman told heartwire.

Investigators also highlighted the “steep learning curve” seen in the study, with the first 30 procedures taking over four hours, while the last 30 typically took under three hours.

A randomized trial, comparing percutaneous mitral-valve repair with the MitraClip with surgical valve replacement or repair is ongoing; one-year follow-up will be completed in October, Feldman said. The MitraClip received a CE mark in Europe last year.

Keep on tickin!

As the cliche goes, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

To that point, my father, Jerry (who is a practicing physician and a practicing stand-up comedian), just sent me this joke.

However… As we all know, humor can cross the lines sometimes. If you are okay with a little tasteless humor (pun intended), please keep reading. If not, go ahead and skip to the next blog.

A teacher was doing a study testing the senses (taste) of first graders using a bowl of lifesavers. The children immediately began to identify the flavors by their color:

• Red………………….Cherry
• Yellow………………Lemon
• Green………………..Lime
• Orange……………Orange

Finally, the teacher gave her students all HONEY-flavored lifesavers.

After eating them, none of the children could identify the taste.

“Well,” the teacher said, “I will give you all a clue. It’s what your mother may sometimes call your father.”

One little girl looked up in horror…

She spit her lifesaver out…

And yelled, “Oh my God!!! They’re assholes!!!”

Keep on tickin!

P.S. To leave a comment, click here.

I just received a great question from Leticia about exercise prior to heart valve surgery.

Leticia writes, “Hi Adam, I have been diagnosed with a bi-cuspid aortic heart valve. I have no symptoms or shortness of breath. My cardiologist hopes I can go for another 10 years without surgery. I’m concerned about my hobbies, which are aerobics and I teach ballet. I love my exercise and my doctor states that I don’t have to change my lifestyle unless I’m feeling symptoms. I’ve just read stories about athletic people having to reduce activity until after surgery. I don’t want to pass out one day and seriously injure or kill myself. Do you have any other info on exercise and bi-cuspid aortic heart valve? Thank you, Leticia”

As Leticia alludes, valvular disorders can negatively impact heart function during exercise for patients prior to heart valve surgery.

Read the rest of this entry »

As patients, we are confronted with a fundamental choice.

That choice appears in our lives when the cardiologist says something like, “The test results shows that your valve is severely diseased… To treat this, you will need heart surgery.”

In that moment, we can choose to perceive heart surgery as an isolating roadblock full of fear and morbidity. Or, we can elect to see heart valve surgery for what it truly is… a medical miracle that extends life with some calculated risk.

As you may have noticed, I use this blog to encourage patients and their caregivers to actively choose the latter perspective. Often, I share actual patient stories to illustrate this point and inspire future patients. From experience, I know it’s incredibly helpful to learn from other patients who have already been through this process.

Teppo Numminen – Heart Valve Patient, Hockey Star

On that note… Teppo Numminen has been a role model for many patients in the heart valve community. In case you are not familiar with Numminen’s story, consider that this professional hockey player not only had heart valve surgery but returned to the physically grueling sport only 9 months post-op.

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Hi everybody,

Since launching this blog years ago, I have continuously asked our community, “How can I improve this website?”

Thankfully… You have not been shy with your constructive criticisms and thoughtful comments. As a result, we have collectively enhanced this blog and developed new tools/capabilities to help patients through the heart valve surgery process (e.g. the heart valve surgeon database).

Now, I am excited to share with you the following… Over the past few months, I have integrated many of your suggestions into a very new, very unique and very free Internet application designed to support patients and their caregivers during the entire surgical process – from diagnosis into recovery. The programming of this application is almost complete.

That said, I am looking for several volunteers to help test this online tool. Do you have any interest in ”test driving” this new application? If so, please leave me a comment by clicking here or emailing me.

[UPDATE: Thanks everybody for your quick response!!! I now have more than enough patients to help with this beta test. If I need additional help, I will let you know!]

Keep on tickin!

P.S. To leave a comment, click here.