Home > Heart Surgery Blog > Mitral Valve Repair > Ask Me Anything #2: "Is the MitraClip Close to Being a Standardized Procedure?" asks Dorothy

Ask Me Anything #2: "Is the MitraClip Close to Being a Standardized Procedure?" asks Dorothy

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Medical Expert: Gorav Ailawadi, MD, Chair of Cardiac Surgery, Michigan Medicine
Page Last Updated: June 6, 2025

For our second "Ask Me Anything" video from the Mitral Conclave conference, we're going to answer Dorothy's question about the MitraClip, a new transcatheter mitral valve repair device (TMVR) that received FDA approval in 2013. In her post, Dorothy asked me, "Is the MitraClip getting closer to being a standardized procedure?"

To answer Dorothy's question, I tracked down Dr. Gorav Ailawadi. As you might recall, I was very fortunate to watch Dr. Ailawadi and Dr. Scott Lim perform a MitraClip procedure a few years ago.

Thanks to Dorothy for her question and a special thanks to Dr. Ailawadi for sharing his clinical experiences and research with the patients and caregivers in our community!

Keep on tickin!
Adam

P.S. For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of my interview with Dr. Ailawadi below.

Adam: Hi, everybody! It's Adam and we're at the Mitral Conclave in New York City. We're answering your questions that were submitted at heartvalvesurgery.com. I am very excited to be here with Dr. Gorav Ailawadi, who's from the Michigan Medicine. He's a Cardiac Surgeon. We're answering Dorothy's question about the MitraClip. She asks, Dr. Ailawadi, "Is the MitraClip getting closer to be a standardized procedure?

Dr. Gorav Ailawadi: Well that's a great question. The MitraClip, as many of you may know, is a device that goes in through the groin to repair the mitral valve that's leaking. The way it works is it essentially clips two different parts of the valve together. It's one of about ten or twelve different ways that we have to repair valves with surgery, so I probably can't say it's the standard procedure that we do on every patient. It is a great procedure in the right patient.

As you know, it is something that was recently FDA approved in the United States about a year ago, for patients with a certain type of valve disease called degenerative valve disease who are not candidates for surgery. We see in many patients a huge reduction in the value leakage. It may not always be as good as with surgery, so when somebody that's healthy and active, surgery may still be a better option in terms of long term.

Those patients that are maybe frail or elderly, or have other medical problems, the clip is a great solution. It decreases their leak to something that they can absolutely live with. They function well. They can live life. Most of them are actually out of the hospital within a day or two.

Adam: Dr. Ailawadi, I want to thank you for all the great work that you and your team are doing at Michigan Medicine. Thanks for coming by and sharing that answer. I hope that helped Dorothy; I know it helped me. Thanks so much.

Dr. Gorav Ailawadi: Thank you.

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Written by Adam Pick
Patient & Website Founder

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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