WHS Washington Hospital Offers Breakthrough Treatment for Mitral Regurgitation

By Andrew Wilson

The cardiology team at WHS Washington Hospital is now offering a breakthrough minimally invasive cardiovascular treatment for patients with a severe leak in the mitral valve of their heart.

The procedure, called MitraClipTM therapy, is indicated for patients with mitral regurgitation, the most common heart valve condition which occurs when the mitral valve doesn’t open and close properly, inhibiting normal blood flow, and causing the blood to flow back into the heart, causing it to work much harder and leading to a number of possible symptoms.

“Mitral regurgitation is typically a chronic condition developing over several years,” said David Haybron, MD, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at WHS. “Frequently it will present with symptoms related to heart failure such as lower extremity swelling, shortness of breath, or palpitations.

Left untreated, patients with mitral regurgitation are at greater risk for life-threatening stroke or heart failure. As mitral regurgitation becomes severe, people find it harder to take part in their normal activities, experience severe fatigue, and grow progressively weaker.

“The traditional approach to treating severe mitral insufficiency would be valve repair or replacement, frequently performed minimally invasively,” said Dr. Haybron. “Patients who suffer from heart failure due to extremely weaken heart function can develop mitral insufficiency due to enlargement of the heart. The resulting valve leakage typically worsens the heart failure.”

For some patients, guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT), a regimen of medications, can improve their condition and avoid the need for additional procedures, but for other patients GDMT may not be as effective.

“Patients who have very weak hearts or who are at very high operative risk and who meet specific anatomic guidelines may be candidates for the Mitraclip,” said Dr. Haybron.

The MitraClip device is delivered to the heart through a small incision in the leg and clips portions of the leaflets of the mitral valve together to reduce the backflow of blood, restoring the heart’s ability to pump oxygenated blood more efficiently. Patients who have the MitraClip inserted tend to have a shorter hospital stay – about two days on average – and generally experience an almost immediate improvement in heart function and lessening of symptoms.

“Currently, the Mitraclip procedure is a durable repair technique indicated in patients who cannot safely undergo surgery due to high operative risk,” said Dr. Haybron, who cautioned that not every patient with mitral regurgitation is a candidate for MitraClip insertion.

“Some patients cannot have the procedure due to anatomic reasons,” he said. “For this reason, it will never completely replace surgical valve repair surgery although there are scores of devices being developed which show great promise for similar transcatheter use.”

For those patients where MitraClip is indicated, however, there is a great relief in knowing that their leaky heart valve can be successfully treated close to home in a minimally invasive manner.

MitraClip, which is developed by Abbott and has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for nearly 20 years, has treated over 100,000 patients worldwide. WHS Washington Hospital successfully performed this minimally invasive procedure in early July and the patient is doing very well.

“The Mitraclip represents a successful technology which compliments the multidisciplinary WHS heart team's current skill set for managing complex cardiac conditions in a local setting,” said Dr. Haybron.

For more information about MitraClip and the cardiology team at WHS Washington Hospital, visit whs.org/heart or call 724-225-6500