Study Offers Less Complex, Minimally Invasive Procedure to Treat Heart Valve Leak

Rush University Medical Center has been participating in a national clinical trial studying the use of a new device, called the MitraClip, to treat leaky heart valves. Results from the study, presented recently at the annual American College of Cardiology conference, indicate that using a minimally invasive procedure to insert the new clip device may be much safer than open-heart surgery.   

Instead of open-heart surgery, patients will undergo a less complex catheter-based procedure to treat mitral regurgitation, a serious heart disorder where blood leaks backwards toward the lungs with each heart beat. Leaky mitral valves sap the efficiency of the heart, overloading it with blood and preventing it from pumping enough to meet the body’s needs. Over time, the chronic overload expands the heart, weakening it and causing life-threatening heart failure.

Interventional cardiologists at Rush are part of the national EVEREST II trial, a prospective, multi-center, phase II clinical study comparing the effectiveness of the MitraClip device to standard open-heart surgery. The tiny clip, which is placed using a catheter, holds the flaps of the mitral valve together to prevent leaking. 

This promising new procedure is a viable option for patients who cannot tolerate open-heart surgery. It is performed under general anesthesia and is far less complex than the standard method of surgery which requires a sternum splitting operation, use of a heart-lung machine and stopping the heart to repair or replace the valve.

More Information at Your Fingertips:
Read the complete news release.
Learn more about the Center for Congenital and Structural Heart Disease at Rush.