Since launching this blog five years ago, I’ve been very fortunate to attend unique events related to heart valve surgery. Last Friday, I attended a Medtronic “Wet Lab” at the Mitral Conclave in New York City. As the pictures and videos below illustrate, this was a memorable experience.

Dr. Vinay Badhwar Moderates The Heart Valve Repair Wet Lab

During the 90-minute session, led by Dr. David Adams and Dr. Vinay Badhwar, an ordinary conference room in the Sheraton hotel was transformed into a medical laboratory. There, heart valve surgeons — from around the world — exchanged views and opinions about heart valve repair techniques using annuloplasty rings.

Over 20 Heart Valve Surgeons Participate In The Wet Lab

Needless to say, this was an extraordinary event as 20+ surgeons used pig hearts to simulate the steps and processes required to improve valvular function using annuloplasty rings, including the Medtronic Tri-Ad Annuloplasty Ring.

As you can see in the video below, Dr. Badhwar, from Orlando, Florida, was the moderator of this session. I was fascinated by Dr. Badhwar’s discussion about the surgical approach and anatomical considerations for tricuspid valve repair.

While Dr. Badhwar moderated the session, Dr. Adams walked throughout the room discussing optimal techniques for heart valve repair.

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While at the Mitral Conclave, I was fortunate to meet with Dr. Kevin Accola, a leading mitral valve surgeon from Orlando, Florida. During our discussion, I asked Dr. Accola a question submitted by Debby about mitral valve repair.

Debby asked, “I was diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation over 5 years ago. Now, at 42, I have no symptoms or health concerns. Is it possible that I will never need a mitral valve repair? Or, is that wishful thinking?”

Thanks to Debby for her question. And, a special thanks to Dr. Kevin Accola for sharing his clinical expertise with us!

For those of you who are hearing impaired, please find below a transcript of our discussion.

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Since Friday, I’ve received several questions from patients and caregivers in our community about the 2011 Mitral Conclave in New York City. To share more insight about the Mitral Conclave, I asked Dr. David Adams, the program director, to describe the origins of this very unique event. Here is what Dr. Adams shared with me.

So you know, this is Part I of my interview with Dr. Adams. Please stay tuned… In the next few days, I will be posting Dr. Adams’ response to one of your questions about mitral valve regurgitation and mitral valve repair.

For those of you who are hearing impaired, I have provided a transcript of this video interview below.

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I never imagined I would travel across the country for a mitral valve surgery conference. However, when Dr. David Adams invited me to the inaugural Mitral Conclave in New York City, I had to attend this extraordinary meeting.

As noted in the video above, please feel free to ask a question by clicking here. This is a unique opportunity to learn from the world’s best surgeons!

To help those members of our community who are hearing impaired, I have provided a video transcript below.

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While the Da Vinci robot is primarily used for mitral valve repair procedures, a handful of clinical cases have leveraged robotic technology for aortic valve replacement.

To get an update on robotic aortic valve replacement, I recently interviewed Dr. Husam Balkhy, the director of minimally invasive and robotic surgery at The Wisconsin Heart Hospital. As you may recall, Dr. Balkhy has performed aortic valve replacement using the Da Vinci robot and the ATS 3f Bioprosthetic valve, a horse valve replacement.

To help those in our patient and caregiver community that are hearing impaired, I have included a transcript of this video interview with Dr. Balkhy below.

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