Severe mitral valve regurgitation (MR) is a debilitating condition that causes shortness of breath, fatigue and palpitations. In the United States, about 250,000 people develop significant MR each year, with almost 50,000 requiring surgery. The clip is designed to secure the valve's leaflets near the center of the valve so that blood leakage is minimized and the heart pumps more efficiently. This new device could decrease a patient's hospital stay, result in fewer complications, provide a quicker recovery time, and significantly reduce health care costs. "In my most recently treated patient, we utilized two clips to reduce his MR from severe to mild. It has been six months since his procedure, and he has no symptoms whatsoever," says Howard C. Herrmann, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiology & the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Penn, and principal investigator for HUP's component of the EVEREST Trial.
"The development and clinical evaluation of this device are paving the way for percutaneous, or through the skin, valve repair. We are at the beginning of an exciting new avenue in interventional cardiology. I have no doubt that in five or ten years, interventional cardiologists will be routinely treating valvular heart disease in many patients without cardiac surgery," adds Dr. Herrmann.
To date, a total of 24 patients who suffered from significant MR have received the clip as part of the EVEREST I clinical study under an FDA-approved investigational device exemption (IDE)
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Contact: Ed Federico
ed.federico@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5659
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
8-Nov-2004