Mitral Valve Innovation: The Transform McCarthy Mitral Annuloplasty Repair Ring
Written By: Allison DeMajistre, BSN, RN, CCRN
Medical Expert: Patrick McCarthy, MD, Executive Director, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Northwestern Medicine
Reviewed By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: July 13, 2026
At HeartValveSurgery.com, we are constantly on the lookout for the latest innovations in heart valve surgery techniques and medical devices. So, when we learned that one of the most popular physicians in our community had developed and launched a new device for mitral valve disease patients, we couldn’t wait to learn more about it.
The device is called the Transform McCarthy Mitral Annuloplasty Ring, invented by Dr. Patrick McCarthy, the Executive Director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. If you didn't know, Dr. McCarthy has successfully treated over 200 patient testimonials in our community. Adam Pick, the founder of HeartValveSurgery.com, caught up with Dr. McCarthy at the American Society of Thoracic Surgery meeting in Chicago to find out more about Dr. McCarthy's latest innovation.
Video available online at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3jmLQXi_4
Facts About the Transform McCarthy Mitral Annuloplasty Repair Ring
Here are the key insights shared by Dr. McCarthy:
One of the unique characteristics about the Transform McCarthy Mitral Valve Annuloplasty Ring is that it can be squeezed down, or made smaller, to accommodate minimally-invasive procedures. “The ring was approved by the FDA about a year ago,” said Dr. McCarthy. “It’s a ring that looks exactly like a mitral valve. Inside the ring is what we call a stiffener on the top and bottom, and it has a couple of important features. First, you can squeeze it down and make it really small.” Dr. McCarthy explained that making the ring smaller allows surgeons to use it during a minimally-invasive surgery.
Another unique feature of the Transform Mitral Valve Repair Ring is that it helps patients who may need a mitral valve reoperation using a "valve-in-ring" procedure. Dr. McCarthy said, “Every once in a while, a mitral valve repair will fail, and patients will have to undergo a second heart operation, which is obviously dangerous and difficult.” Dr. McCarthy explained that the new ring is designed to accommodate the positioning of a transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR). “We call this a valve-in-ring procedure. The typical D-shaped mitral valve allows a transcatheter mitral valve to fit inside. The hope is that if a patient’s repair fails at 5, 10, or 15 years, they won’t need a second open-heart surgery. Instead, the patient can have a transcatheter procedure and avoid an open heart procedure. Are people going to need it? We hope not. But it’s like having an airbag in your car. Do you want a car with an airbag or not? It’s a simple decision.”
In addition, the Transform Mitral Valve Repair Ring is designed to fit each individual patient. “Another important aspect of the Transform ring is that it follows a mathematical algorithm to get a precise repair for patients,” said Dr. McCarthy. “We give surgeons the numbers they need to calculate the coaptation, which ensures the amount of overlap of the leaflets is exactly right.”
To date, the implants of the annuloplasty ring have performed very well. “We’ve done about 150 implants so far,” said Dr. McCarthy. “It’s working exactly as we would have hoped, and we’ve been able to get that amount of coaptation that we want. The results early on are fantastic. We haven’t had any failures requiring a valve-in-ring procedure at this point. We’ve done bench testing that proves we can put a TAVR or transcatheter mitral valve replacement inside the ring, and it will look good.”
Many Thanks to Dr. McCarthy and Northwestern Medicine!
On behalf of all the patients in our community, thank you, Dr. Patrick McCarthy, for everything you and your team are doing at Northwestern Medicine!
Related links:
Dr. Patrick McCarthy Gets 200 Patient Reviews at HeartValveSurgery.com
Read the TransForm McCarthy Mitral Annuloplasty Ring Product Guide
Keep on tickin,
Adam
P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. McCarthy below.
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.
Video Transcript:
Adam Pick: Hi, everybody. It's Adam with HeartValveSurgery.com, and we're at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Conference in Chicago, Illinois. I'm thrilled to be joined by Dr. Patrick McCarthy, who's the executive director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. McCarthy, it is great to see you again, and thanks for being with me today.
Dr. Patrick McCarthy: Thanks, Adam, and thanks for all that you do for the patients.
Adam Pick: Yeah, I, I've gotta tell you, I've been looking forward to this conversation all week… Because given your commitment and dedication to mitral valve repair surgery, I understand that you have been working on the release of a new ring that appears to be right here.
Dr. Patrick McCarthy: Here it is.
Adam Pick: And I imagine the folks in our community want to know what is so special about this ring, and why is everybody here talking about it?
Dr. Patrick McCarthy: Thanks, Adam. So, this came out, FDA approved over a year ago now. This is a ring. This is what the mitral valve ring looks like that we put in patients.
It looks exactly like a mitral valve. What's different about it is, is what's inside, and you can't really see it. But surgeons are used to looking at it like this, but inside is what we call a stiffener on the top and on the bottom. But then there's a couple of important things. One is you can squeeze it down and make it really small. So, if you're doing minimally invasive surgery, it can fit in there.
But the most important is that - every once in a while - a mitral valve repair will fail, and if so, patients typically have to undergo a second heart operation, which is obviously dangerous. It's difficult for them. So instead, we designed this so that you can put a valve inside it. This is called a “Valve in Ring” procedure.
So, the design of this is that you take a typical D-shaped mitral valve, and then you can put a circle inside it with a TAVR valve or a transcatheter mitral valve. The hope is that if patient has a failure in 5, 10, 15 years, they won't need a second heart operation. Instead, they can have a transcatheter procedure and avoid that operation.
Are people going to need it? We hope not. But, it's like having an airbag in your car. Do you want a car that has an airbag or not? It's kind of a simple decision.
Another important thing about the Transform ring is that it follows this mathematical algorithm that we use so that we get a very precise repair for patients. We give the surgeons the numbers that they need to do the calculations so they get the amount of coaptation which is the amount of overlap of the leaflets just right.
Adam Pick: Fantastic. I'm sure when you hear new in medicine, it's exciting. At the same time, you don't know how it's going to perform. Have you done any implants to date, and if so, what, what have you learned?
Dr. Patrick McCarthy: We've done about 150 implants so far. It's working exactly as we would have hoped in that we're able to get that amount of coaptation that we want. The results early on are looking fantastic. We have not had any failures that anyone has ever needed a valve-in-ring at this point. We've actually done bench testing that proves that you can put a TAVR or transcatheter mitral valve replacement inside the ring and it'll look good.
Adam Pick: Wow. Well, on behalf of the patients, Dr. McCarthy, people all over the world, thanks to you and your team at Northwestern Medicine thanks for everything you're doing.
Dr. Patrick McCarthy: Thank you, Adam.
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