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New technology offers a less invasive approach to open heart surgery

Researchers from Northwestern University, IL, USA, have developed a novel technique to treat mitral regurgitation (MR), the leaking of blood through the mitral valve into the heart chamber, which is less invasive than current open heart surgical techniques. In the USA, as many as 250,000 patients with valvular heart disease suffer from MR and an additional 2 million Americans with other heart diseases experience it to some degree. Ted Feldman, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, IL, USA, is the principal investigator and author of the study published in Journal of Interventional Cardiology that utilized advanced catheter techniques, similar to angioplasty, to provide a preferable approach to the treatment of MR compared with open mitral valve surgical techniques, specifically in high-risk patients. The study reports on the first phase of a clinical trial to test the new technique on patients with moderate-severe and severe MR. The procedure, conducted via the percutaneous route, involves placing a guide catheter into the coronary sinus, supporting the mitral annulus and allowing for leaflet repair. According to Feldman, “The procedure has been accomplished safely and a significant reduction in MR has been achieved in the majority of patients treated.” The study is reported to mark a groundbreaking step in the development of new therapies as well as an advance in our knowledge of heart surgery.