{"id":1343,"date":"2010-07-14T08:04:13","date_gmt":"2010-07-14T13:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=1343"},"modified":"2025-06-24T03:45:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:45:46","slug":"dr-saibal-kar-alfredo-trento-mitraclip-cedars-sinai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2010\/07\/14\/dr-saibal-kar-alfredo-trento-mitraclip-cedars-sinai\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiac Clinic Tour: Dr. Kar and Dr. Trento Join Forces In MitraClip Study at Cedars-Sinai Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, I was extremely lucky to observe Dr. Saibal Kar and his team perform its 103rd MitraClip procedure on a patient with severe mitral regurgitation at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n

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\"Dr.Dr. Saibal Kar And Me In The Cath Lab At Cedars-Sinai
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

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While I expected to watch the procedure from a gallery \u2013 much like an episode of Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em> \u2013 I quickly found myself inside the cardiac catheter lab wearing scrubs and a lead suit used to protect me against x-ray exposure from fluoroscopy.<\/p>\n

For the next three hours, I had front-row access to Dr. Saibal Kar’s team as they cared for the patient and deployed the new MitraClip device. Yes\u2026 This was much, much, much better than an episode of Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Although the MitraClip has yet to receive FDA approval in the United States, Dr. Kar has been using the device to treat mitral valve regurgitation without causing any physical trauma to the patient\u2019s sternum or ribs. As previously discussed, the results of the MitraClip clinical trials have been encouraging.<\/p>\n

A few minutes before the procedure began, I was very surprised to see a familiar face enter the cardiac catheterization lab. Doctor Alfredo Trento<\/a>, the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, quietly assumed a position to left of Dr. Kar.<\/p>\n

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\"Dr.Dr. Kar (Cardiologist) and Dr. Trento (Cardiac Surgeon)
\nWork Side-By-Side During A MitraClip Procedure<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis has got to be somewhat unique,\u201d I thought to myself, \u201cGiven the distinct nature of their specialties and some of the skepticism surrounding the MitraClip from the surgeon community, I can not imagine this is common.\u201d (I would later learn that, so far, only a handful of cardiac surgeons have taken a serious clinical interest in this non-invasive procedure used to treat mitral valve regurgitation<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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Regardless of their specialties, these cardiac gurus \u2013 Dr. Saibal Kar and Dr. Alfredo Trento \u2013\u00a0 worked seamlessly together.<\/p>\n

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\"AlfredoDr. Alfredo Trento, Cardiac Surgeon,
\nOperating The MitraClip Delivery System<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ll be honest\u2026 As an observer, I was relatively clueless to most of the conversations in the catheter lab. There was so much medical data chatter<\/em> going back and forth amongst the medical team – comprised of cardiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologist and nurses – that my ears went somewhat numb.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Dr. Kar\u2019s physician assistant, Asma Hussaini, and other visiting cardiologists (including Steve Goldberg, from Kirkland, Washington), helped me understand the key steps of this transformational procedure in laymen\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n

For me, there were several highlights of this MitraClip experience:<\/p>\n