By Staff Reports
(HONOLULU) – The Queen’s Medical Center (Queen’s) is the first hospital in Hawaii to offer MitraClip, a minimally invasive treatment option for patients suffering from mitral regurgitation (MR). The MitraClip device has been FDA-approved for U.S. patients with severe symptomatic degenerative MR who would be at high risk if they underwent mitral valve surgery. Degenerative MR is a type of MR caused by an anatomic defect of the mitral valve of the heart.
“Before MitraClip, there really were no alternatives for these high-risk patients,” said Christian Spies, M.D., interventional cardiologist and director of Cardiac Invasive Services at Queen’s. “Patients would either have to accept the risk of invasive, open heart surgery, or be left with the progression of a weakened heart and congestive heart failure. Medication only managed the symptoms, which could include being chronically tired and easily winded. For some people, even doing the dishes could cause shortness of breath.”
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. Once implanted, it allows the heart to pump blood more efficiently, thereby relieving symptoms and improving the patient’s quality of life. Patients undergoing this treatment typically experience faster recovery times and shorter hospital stays. At Queen’s, a multi-disciplinary team performs the procedure under the leadership of Dr. Spies; non-invasive cardiologist Chari Hart, M.D.; and cardiothoracic surgeon Dean Nakamura, M.D.
“Our patients have been up and walking within two to four hours after the procedure,” said Dr. Spies. “We see an immediate and dramatic improvement in them. Their heart is in better shape; they have more endurance; they can engage more in activities of daily living. And they feel better. One patient told me, ‘I haven’t felt like this in decades.’”
MR is a debilitating, progressive and life-threatening disease in which a leaky mitral valve causes a backward flow of blood in the heart. The condition can raise the risk of irregular heartbeats, stroke, and heart failure, which can lead to death. Mitral regurgitation affects more than 4 million Americans – nearly one in 10 people aged 75 and older. Open heart mitral valve surgery is the standard of care treatment, but many patients are at prohibitive risk for an invasive procedure.
“With MitraClip, we now have another catheter-based option for treatment of heart valve disease, which completes the full range of therapies that Queen’s offers for the heart,” said Dr. Spies. “Now people don’t have to fly to the mainland to have these procedures done. They can be done right here at home.”
For more information, contact The Queen’s Heart Center for Valve and Structural Heart Disease at 691-8808.