Mountain View, CA - December 18, 2013 - Physicians at El Camino Hospital are among the first in the United States to offer patients suffering from mitral regurgitation (MR) a breakthrough new minimally invasive treatment option. The MitraClip device has been approved for U.S. patients with severe symptomatic degenerative MR who are at prohibitive risk for mitral valve surgery. El Camino Hospital also carries the distinction of having been the birthplace and one of the original investigational sites for the device. Frederick St. Goar, MD, pioneered the breakthrough concept and was instrumental in the development of the technology, which was eventually sold to and brought to market by Abbott Vascular.
“The availability of the MitraClip means that for patients, who before, may not have been able to withstand surgery, now have a less-invasive treatment option that can help them regain their quality of life,” said Dominick Curatola, MD, chair, medical director, Norma Melchor Heart & Vascular Institute of El Camino Hospital. “It’s also exceptionally meaningful that a device that was developed right on our campus will have significant impact on patients all over the country and around the world, and we are extremely proud of Dr. St. Goar and the team that worked so long and hard to develop this important technology.”
MR is a debilitating, progressive and life-threatening disease in which a leaky mitral valve causes a backward flow of blood in the heart. Mitral regurgitation is common, affecting more than 4 million Americans – nearly one in 10 people aged 75 and above.i Degenerative MR is a type of MR caused by an anatomic defect of the mitral valve of the heart. The condition can raise the risk of irregular heartbeats, stroke, and heart failure, which can be deadly. Prohibitive risk is determined by the clinical judgment of a heart team due to the presence of one or more documented surgical risk factors.
Open heart mitral valve surgery is the standard of care treatment, but many patients are at prohibitive risk for an invasive procedure. Medications for the condition are limited to symptom management and do not stop the progression of the disease.
Abbott's MitraClip repairs the mitral valve without the need for an invasive surgical procedure. The device is delivered to the heart through the femoral vein, a blood vessel in the leg, and once implanted, allows the heart to pump blood more efficiently, thereby relieving symptoms and improving patient quality of life. Patients undergoing MitraClip treatment typically experience short recovery times and short hospital stays of three days.
Multiple trials, published reports, and registries of patients treated with the MitraClip device consistently demonstrate a positive safety profile, reduction in mitral regurgitation, improvement in symptoms, and reduction in hospitalizations for heart failure, even in some of the most ill and debilitated patients. More than 11,000 patients in more than 30 countries have been treated with the MitraClip device. Physicians at El Camino Hospital are among the first in the United States to offer patients suffering from mitral regurgitation (MR) a breakthrough new minimally invasive treatment option. The MitraClip device has been approved for U.S. patients with severe symptomatic degenerative MR who are at prohibitive risk for mitral valve surgery. El Camino Hospital also carries the distinction of having been the birthplace and one of the original investigational sites for the device. Frederick St. Goar, MD, pioneered the breakthrough concept and was instrumental in the development of the technology, which was eventually sold to and brought to market by Abbott Vascular.
“The availability of the MitraClip means that for patients, who before, may not have been able to withstand surgery, now have a less-invasive treatment option that can help them regain their quality of life,” said Dominick Curatola, MD, chair, medical director, Norma Melchor Heart & Vascular Institute of El Camino Hospital. “It’s also exceptionally meaningful that a device that was developed right on our campus will have significant impact on patients all over the country and around the world, and we are extremely proud of Dr. St. Goar and the team that worked so long and hard to develop this important technology.”
MR is a debilitating, progressive and life-threatening disease in which a leaky mitral valve causes a backward flow of blood in the heart. Mitral regurgitation is common, affecting more than 4 million Americans – nearly one in 10 people aged 75 and above. Degenerative MR is a type of MR caused by an anatomic defect of the mitral valve of the heart. The condition can raise the risk of irregular heartbeats, stroke, and heart failure, which can be deadly. Prohibitive risk is determined by the clinical judgment of a heart team due to the presence of one or more documented surgical risk factors.
Open heart mitral valve surgery is the standard of care treatment, but many patients are at prohibitive risk for an invasive procedure. Medications for the condition are limited to symptom management and do not stop the progression of the disease. Abbott's MitraClip repairs the mitral valve without the need for an invasive surgical procedure. The device is delivered to the heart through the femoral vein, a blood vessel in the leg, and once implanted, allows the heart to pump blood more efficiently, thereby relieving symptoms and improving patient quality of life. Patients undergoing MitraClip treatment typically experience short recovery times and short hospital stays of three days.
Multiple trials, published reports, and registries of patients treated with the MitraClip device consistently demonstrate a positive safety profile, reduction in mitral regurgitation, improvement in symptoms, and reduction in hospitalizations for heart failure, even in some of the most ill and debilitated patients. More than 11,000 patients in more than 30 countries have been treated with the MitraClip device.
Additional information about MitraClip, including important safety information, is available online at: Abbott
i Nkomo VT, Gardin JM, Skelton TN, Gottdiener JS, Scott CG, Enriquez-Sarano M. Burden of valvular heart diseases: a population-based study. Lancet. 2006 Sep 16;368(9540):1005-11.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16980116