Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Since I first heard about the MitraClip several years ago, I have been fascinated by the evolution of this new, non-invasive technology used to treat mitral regurgitation without open heart surgery. (You might recall, Elizabeth Taylor underwent the MitraClip procedure last October.)

That said, I was excited to learn that Abbott Laboratories, the manufacturer of the MitraClip, just announced some encouraging safety findings from its clinical trials. In this very unique research, the MitraClip - which is delivered to the heart via a catheter through a blood vessel in the leg - was compared against traditional, open heart surgery for mitral regurgitation treatment.

The MitraClip By Abbot Laboratories

The primary safety goal of the study compared the number of adverse events (stroke, re-operation of mitral valve, urgent cardiovascular surgery, heart attack, kidney failure, major bleeding, and death) 30 days after the procedure.

The highlights of this research were:

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Over the years, I have interacted with many patients that suffer from atrial fibrillation and heart valve diseases including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation. To learn more about atrial fibrillation and heart valve disease, I contacted Dr. Niv Ad, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Inova Health Systems in Falls Church, Virginia. Here are the highlights from our very interesting discussion:

Dr. Niv Ad- Chief of Cardiac Surgery
Inova Health Systems, Falls Church, Virginia

Adam:  Thanks so much for taking time to speak with me today. I’d like to ask you a couple questions about atrial fibrillation and heart valve disorders.

Dr. Niv Ad:  Thanks Adam for raising awareness to this very important topic.

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As many of you know, this is a very exciting time for the heart valve surgery community given the rapid advance of medical technologies used to treat diseases including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.

Last week, St. Jude Medical, one of the leading heart valve manufacturers, cleared a significant hurdle for the commercial release of its new Trifecta heart valve replacement. In case you missed it, St. Jude announced that its Trifecta valve received CE mark approval for the device within the European Union. (The device is still in clinical trials here in the United States.)

Trifecta Heart Valve (Source: Medgadget)

As we have discussed before, the Trifecta heart valve is a pericardial, stented tissue valve used to replace a patient’s diseased, damaged or malfunctioning aortic heart valve. According to the St. Jude, this next-generation tissue valve has a tri-leaflet stented pericardial design which offers excellent hemodynamic performance, or nearly unobstructed blood flow, which closely mimics the blood flow of a natural, healthy heart. The valve also features the Linx AC Technology, an anti-calcification treatment designed to reduce tissue mineralization (hardening).

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There is nothing better than waking up, enjoying a cup of coffee, turning on the computer and finding a patient success story in my inbox.

Today, I received a patient success story all the way from Portugal. It’s about Filomeno Faustino’s recent aortic valve replacement with a Carbomedics Top Hat mechanical device. Here is what Filomeno wrote to me:

Filomeno Faustino - Nine Days After Valve Surgery

Dear Adam,

Recently, my aortic valve was replaced because I had a bicuspid aortic valve caused by a genetic problem. I have attached a picture which shows me nine days after surgery.

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