{"id":5875,"date":"2011-05-13T12:53:52","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T17:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=5875"},"modified":"2018-08-30T10:33:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T15:33:58","slug":"alain-carpentier-video-interview-mitral-conclave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2011\/05\/13\/alain-carpentier-video-interview-mitral-conclave\/","title":{"rendered":"An Incredible Opportunity To Learn From Professor Alain Carpentier, The &#8220;Father&#8221; Of Modern Heart Valve Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a history buff. That said, I was beyond excited to meet Professor Alain Carpentier at the Mitral Conclave. If you did not know, Professor Carpentier is widely regarded as the &#8220;Father&#8221; of modern heart valve surgery.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" alt=\"Dr. Alain Carpentier, Adam Pick, Dr. David Adams &amp; Dr. Fred Mohr At Mitral Conclave\" src=\"\/Images\/alain-carpentier-david-adams-pick.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><br \/>\nAdam, Professor Alain Carpentier, Dr. David Adams &amp; Dr. Friedrich Mohr<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After the introduction, I was fortunate to witness the filming of a very, very, very special interview with Professor Carpentier. Thanks to Dr. David Adams and Dr. Randy Martin, I am able to share portions of that interview below.<\/p>\n<p>I encourage all patients and caregivers to watch this video and learn about this incredible man. As you will hear, Professor Carpentier&#8217;s curiosity triggered many of the innovations that transformed valvular treatment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KQr1xOGlaMk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>For those members of our community who are hearing impaired, I have provided a written transcript of Professor Alain Carpentier&#8217;s video interview below.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Well, I\u2019m obviously privileged, like all of us, to have a chance to visit with Professor Carpentier. Professor, you sat in the audience this morning. I saw you in the audience this morning. Sitting on the podium, I was overwhelmed at 900 individuals here to learn about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">mitral valve regurgitation disease<\/a> and the operative repair. What\u2019s it feel like for you to see, you know, what you\u2019ve postulated all these years and taught us all to have this much of a gathering?<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Well, I couldn\u2019t imagine it, you know, the how vast and how deep would be the changes in the mentality of the surgeon with regards to valve disease. I think has something to do with a current evolution of the society\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Um, hum.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: And, mainly then the fact that our society, the people are mainly concerned by quality of life. I have only one definition to make comparing the surgery from the past to the surgery of today or tomorrow, I would only say <strong>\u201cquality of life\u201d<\/strong>. And, in the past the people were afraid to have a real operation. That\u2019s why they didn\u2019t like valve repair or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/biological-heart-valve-replacement.php\">bioprosthetic valve replacement<\/a>. Today they say, \u201cWell, give me a normal life for 10, 15, 20 years so that I can enjoy life,\u201d and this is, of course, the unexpected success of what I call non-thrombogenic surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: So you\u2019ve been a proponent of not only excellence in cardiac surgery, but this concept of really understanding the mitral valve and repair. To see where it is, too see, I mean, just sitting in the room and seeing 900 people sitting there spending a morning and two days talking about this, it must be very encouraging to you, isn\u2019t it, to see, you know, how it\u2019s come to that? (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-repair-surgery.php\">Click here<\/a> to learn about mitral valve repair procedures.)<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Well, I\u2019ve been encouraged in the past, also, and I would say it was mainly a surprise. It is, of course, encouraging, as you said. It is a surprise but this is the merit of David Adams who was able to \u2013 He is really, in this country, the promoter of these techniques. There are very few people having caught the spirit of valve reconstruction because this is really the term \u2018spirit\u2019 that\u2019s probably the best to spread that and I go back to the beginning by saying that how important is the quality of life.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: The concept in your paper in 1983, you know, most cardiologists, and I\u2019m obviously a cardiologist, most cardiologists didn\u2019t had no concept, and I\u2019m afraid even today many of them, the concept of the incredible structure of the mitral apparatus and how you would repair it so, you know, you\u2019ve not only enlightened surgeons but you\u2019ve also enlightened cardiologists in that.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: In relate to, I like to work with cardiologists from the very beginning. You know, they \u2013 There is a tendency for surgeons to think that they know everything and that the cardiologists don\u2019t know anything. I have a totally different approach and I\u2019ve been introducing the cardiologists in the operating room, probably the very first in the world, from the very beginning. This was at the beginning of the availability of echocardiography.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: And working as a team is such a gratifying approach and allows you to really improve your techniques and improve your result because the cardiologist is in the operating room. He tells you there is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/leaking-heart-valve-symptoms.php\">a heart valve leak<\/a>. Nah, there is no leak. Yes, there is a leak. You have to go back.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Where do you think mitral valve surgery is going in the future if you had to look down the way or mitral valve disease repair, where is that going in the future?<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: One has to realize that today <strong>50% of the mitral valve diseases are not admitted to surgery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: And these 40%, or 35% exactly, will be operated on in the future. That\u2019s number one. And number two, since the population is getting older\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin. Right.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: We\u2019ll see, you know, a greater number of people affected by degenerative valvular disease, whatever is the type of degenerative valvular disease, so mitral valve reconstruction is going to evolve. My concern, and I do have a concern. My concern is that it is a the surgery which requires some effort on the part of the surgeon and it\u2019s difficult, more difficult than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-valve-replacement.php\">a heart valve replacement<\/a>, so I\u2019ve been pleased to see the move towards valve repair although valve repair is more difficult is the one, you know, I think that\u2019s a reward. That is a reward. And it\u2019s due to people like Dr. David Adams.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Well, I think, I mean you\u2019re exactly right and, again, it goes back to your quality issue. In other words, if we know, and you\u2019ve helped educate us, that if you do an excellent repair that the quality, the affect on the left ventricle, the affect on the right ventricle, the affect on the atrium, the quality of life and the affect on the patient improves. Tell me a little bit about the &#8211; your passion with the non-thrombogenic valve for which you won the Lasker Award. Tell me a little bit about that.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Well, the concept came from the patient rather than from me. That is to say, the patient\u2019s request. Of course, although valve repair has been associated with tremendous progress, still there are cases which require a valve replacement. Valve replacement is an easier operation but it has adverse effects when using mechanical heart valve replacements.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: True.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: There have been these problem, at the very beginning of cardiac surgery or valvular surgery. So I told myself, you know, that repair, if we can improve it, we\u2019ll improve it but what about a valve replacement if necessary. And then I began to analyze what could be done and, of course, I went back to the laboratory and then, as you know, made some chemistry to improve the durability, to introduce first, and then to improve the durability of animal valves.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: It\u2019s interesting because I began medical school in 1965 so it\u2019s really at the earliest stages of valve\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Did you meet resistance from your colleagues as the mechanical valves were coming along and you certainly were going a different route. People would say not only they just not going to last. Did you meet resistance from your colleagues over that?<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Well.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: They\u2019re not going to last. They\u2019re going to fall apart.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: To say the least. To say the least. Because it was a crazy idea.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Oh, absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Using an animal valve\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: To replace a human valve was a crazy idea and the reason I persisted is due to the fact that the crazy idea was non-thrombogenic and the only downside was the only limitation was immunological reaction. Let\u2019s say, say we had acute rejection\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Um, hum.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: In animal\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Um hum.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Before trying to a human. So I told myself, there are two ways using \u2013 I want to use these animal valves because they are available with no risk of infection or whatever. That\u2019s why I stick to the animal valve and also because they\u2019re \u2013 it was a larger availability in different sizes. However, there were these problem of immunological reaction and then I started by trying to think about it and again, because of the quality of life issue, I told myself instead of treating the patient to reduce immunological reaction, I\u2019m going to treat the tissue and that\u2019s probably the most interesting, intellectually interesting, invention that I\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: It\u2019s, you know, it sounds simple but it\u2019s a very unique concept.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: It, yeah, it was\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: As you look to the future again in valves in general, where are we going?<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: I don\u2019t know. We are looking for different material. Have been, you know, hundreds of different materials used and tried hoping that they will mimic, you know, the natural tissue but up to now, not been any but, you know, we should never say \u201cnever\u201d. It will come. For the moment as far as I\u2019m concerned, I\u2019m following the way I have always, you know, followed. That is to say trying to improve the durability by improving the method of preservation and I mean we have made significant\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Progress. I mean many people think by studying valve for the last seven years or eight years like they did when you were in Stanford. However today we see patient, you know, reaching 15, even 20. I now have several patients reaching 25. But that doesn\u2019t mean that it is a rule. The rule is depends, as you know, on the patient.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: If you were talking to young surgeons or a young cardiologist about the practice of their profession, what would you tell them?<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Be good.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Be good.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: In order to be good, work and work and work. But that\u2019s not enough. I would say you must be very curious. I mean an innovator is characterized by his curiosity. Curiosity, for me, means you have to look around and try to catch and understand all the pending problems and there are still many pending problems to , many, many pending problems. So, in other words, I see the future of valve surgery or valve surgery, valve pathology or valve treatment. For example, I\u2019m sure in the 10 or 15 or 20 years, there will be some techniques, gene technique or cell therapy, which can be \u2013 which will be delivered through the locally. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s always good to dream.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Randy Martin: Well, I want to \u2013 You\u2019ve got to go down and give a fascinating lecture but I want to thank you because you\u2019ve had two of the three tenets that I think are important in life. You\u2019ve had a passion for excellence. You\u2019ve had the concept of being able to give to others and you think about that and also the third tenet which is that people in relationships are very important. You\u2019ve trained. You\u2019ve been generous. You\u2019ve trained others and, you know, we\u2019re all \u2013 The world\u2019s a better place because you\u2019ve been curios and you\u2019ve worked at being good, so thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Alain Carpentier: Thank you for these kind remarks.<\/p>\n<p>For those members of our community that are hearing impaired, I have provided a transcript of Professor Carpentier&#8217;s video below.<\/p>\n<p>Keep on tickin&#8217; Professor Carpentier!!!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-surgeons-clinics"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}