Transcatheter Treatment of Mitral Regurgitation

“I went from being 25 percent operational to 100 percent,” said Hothan. MVR can seem a miraculous procedure to patients who, like Hothan, have been struggling for years.

Thoracic Surgery News, the official newspaper of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery - now published 10 times per year! This publication will include sections devoted to the news of general thoracic surgery, adult cardiac surgery, transplantation, and congenital heart disease. Content for Thoracic Surgery News is provided primarily by the Elsevier Society News Group/Elsevier Global Medical News and by the American Association of Thoracic Surgery.

The Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN), whose Data and Clinical Coordinating Center is at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is reporting for the first time evidence on whether or not there is any significant difference between the two current surgical approaches to treat patients with severe ischemic mitral regurgitation — mitral valve repair and mitral valve replacement.

Much like transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), transcatheter treatment of mitral regurgitation should be carefully introduced into clinical practice, a document from four organizations involved in cardiology or thoracic surgery stated.

Surgery News is the official news publication of the American College of Surgeons. Surgery News provides surgeons with timely and relevant news and commentary about clinical developments and the impact of health care policy on surgical practice.

Surgery is thought to be life-saving for people who have ischemic mitral regurgitation, but it is unknown whether surgical repair or surgical replacement of the mitral valve is the better procedure. Repair is thought to result in fewer preoperative deaths and replacement is thought to have better long-term outcomes with a reduced incidence of recurrent mitral regurgitation. In recent years, many surgeons have grown to favor repair. Currently about two-thirds of patients in the US undergo a repair operation.

Neovasc Inc. (TSXV: NVC) today announced that the first patent covering the company's innovative Tiara™ transcatheter mitral valve replacement technology has been issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The new patent protects key aspects of the Tiara mitral valve prosthesis. It is the first patent to issue from a portfolio of US and international patent applications Neovasc has filed aimed at establishing an extensive intellectual property estate covering the entire Tiara program, including the prosthesis, delivery system, associated accessories and methods of use. Tiara is in development for the treatment of severe mitral valve disease. 

When a valve in the heart isn’t working efficiently, surgery may be necessary. There may be an advantage to replacing the valve rather than just repairing it, but not a very big one. A recent study looked at the differences between mitral valve replacement and mitral valve repair in a group of patients who had ischemic mitral valve regurgitation. The results of the study showed that valve replacement was more durable, but other clinical measures were similar between the groups.