News wires just came alive with a fascinating story about Elizabeth Taylor’s anticipated heart valve surgery.

Although details are still coming out, it appears that Elizabeth Taylor suffers from mitral regurgitation ^[1] – commonly referred to as a leaky heart valve or mitral insufficiency. Also of significant interest… It appears that the MitraClip ^[2], a new minimally invasive technology, will be used to repair Elizabeth Taylor’s diseased heart valve.

Elizabeth Taylor – Heart Valve Surgery Patient

Here are the details from The Press Association:

Dame Elizabeth Taylor is to undergo surgery to repair a leaky heart valve ^[3], the veteran actress has announced via Twitter. The 77-year-old called on supporters to pray for her as she explained in a series of messages the procedure to be carried out at an undisclosed hospital.

“I’ll let you know when it is all over. Love you, Elizabeth,” the last of three messages on the subject read.

The Oscar-winner’s last high-profile appearance was made last month at the funeral of long-time friend Michael Jackson. But it was a rare public outing for the actress who has suffered from a number of ailments in recent years and is now seen in a wheelchair.

She was taken to hospital last May for what her publicist described at the time as a routine check-up. After being released from the Los Angeles clinic, she announced via Twitter that she was “home from the hospital and feeling great”.

Dame Elizabeth again used Twiter, the micro-messaging site, ^[4] to give details of her new date with the doctors. She tweeted: “Dear friends, I would like to let you know before it gets in the papers that I am going into the hospital to have a procedure on my heart.”

Here is a great video that explains the Mitraclip, the non-invasive device, I believe, will be used during Taylor’s operation.

Elizabeth Taylor’s final post explained the surgery: “It’s very new and involves repairing my leaky valve using a clip device [play video above], without open heart surgery, so that my heart will function better. Any prayers you happen to have lying around I would dearly appreciate. I’ll let you know when it’s all over. Love you, Elizabeth.”

My thoughts and prayers are with Elizabeth Taylor!

BLOG UPDATE: To learn more on this story, click Elizabeth Taylor’s Heart Valve Surgery, A MitraClip Success Story ^[5].

Keep on tickin’ Elizabeth!