Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

I just received a great question from Lauren about aortic valve replacement and robotic surgery.

Lauren writes, “Hi Adam - I’ve read about the use of the da Vinci robot for mitral valve repair. But, I’m curious to know if the robot is ever used for patients with other valve disorders. I have aortic stenosis, due to a bicuspid valve, and would like to have minimally invasive surgery. Any thoughts? Thanks, Lauren”

The da Vinci Surgical Robot

If Lauren would have sent me this question two weeks ago, my response would have been something like, “From what I know, the only clinical valvular use of the da Vinci Robot is for mitral repair.”

However, earlier this week, ATS Medical announced some very interesting news about robotic surgical approaches using a biological valve replacement, known as the ATS 3f Aortic Bioprosthesis.

Continue reading this post »

Edwards Lifesciences, the world’s largest heart valve replacement manufacturer, continued to impress industrial and financial analysts after it reported another great earnings report earlier this week.

The company, based in Irvine, California, saw its profits more than double thanks to rising sales of replacement heart valves - including its new valve, known as the Edwards SAPIEN Valve.

Continue reading this post »

Considering my fascination with medical technology, I recently came across an interesting video about the use of stem cells to create heart valve replacements for the treatment of valvular disorders including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation. That said, I thought you might find this video very interesting:

In the past, I have written several stories about stem cell use for heart valve development. Here is one story which chronicles Dr. Magdi Yacoub’s ongoing research about heart valve replacements generated by stem cells.

Keep on tickin!

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

About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This unique book integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of 78 former valve surgery patients to help patients and caregivers better understand the problems, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

As many of you know, I am a technology enthusiast. I love seeing the ways technology can improve our lives - especially when it comes to heart valve surgery. One of the newer technologies in this industry is the MitraClip which is used to treat mitral regurgitation (which results from leaky heart valves).

Over the past few months, I continue to receive more-and-more inquiries regarding this non-invasive form of mitral valve repair. In fact, I just opened an email from Anthony that says, “I’m a 45 year-old male just diagnosed with mitral regurgitation…. I’m basically in shock… Do you have any information on the MitraClip?”

While Evalve, Inc., the company which makes the MitraClip, has been around since 1999, recent studies about this percutaneous repair device have been encouraging. On May 14, 2009, it was announced that the first 100 patients have been treated with the MitraClip system in Europe. Of the procedures performed to date, 93% were considered successful. Then, a week later, additional results published from the EVEREST High Risk Registry showed the MitraClip as an effective surgical treatment for mitral regurgitation in high risk patients.

Continue reading this post »