Loma Linda University Medical Center recently became the first hospital in the Inland Empire and Orange County to offer percutaneous mitral valve repair using MitraClip® Device, manufactured by Abbott Vascular Laboratories. As the first transcatheter mitral valve therapy approved by the FDA for select patients suffering from mitral regurgitation, MitraClip is a minimally invasive treatment option for patients in whom comorbidities and high risk would exclude them from traditional mitral valve surgery.
“We are proud to be the pioneer center in the Inland Empire to offer minimally invasive mitral valve repair using MitraClip to our patients,” says Ramin Assadi, MD, an interventional cardiologist and the director of percutaneous mitral valve therapies at Loma Linda University Medical Center. “MitraClip system is a cutting-edge technology available for carefully selected patients that can improve heart failure symptoms by reducing mitral regurgitation, causing favorable left ventricular remodeling and a significant reduction in hospitalizations due to heart failure, ultimately improving the patient’s quality of life."
The first MitraClip procedures at LLU Medical Center were completed in July, both successfully. The patients reported immediate improvement of their heart failure symptoms.
The cardiac team that performed the first MitraClip procedures consisted of interventional cardiologists Ramin Assadi, MD, Islam Abudayyeh, MD, and Brent Gordon, MD; interventional echocardiographer Ramesh Bansal, MD; and cardiothoracic surgeons Rosario Floridia, MD, and Nahidh Hasaniya, MD, PhD. Also involved with the procedure was the cardiac anesthesia team, including Ryan Lauer, MD, and Carin Mascetti, MD.
MitraClip repairs the mitral valve without the need for invasive surgery. The device is delivered to the heart through the femoral vein (a blood vessel in the leg), and once implanted, creates a double opening of the mitral valve with a more efficient closure of the valve. This then reduces the mitral valve insufficiency, allowing the heart to pump blood more efficiently, thereby relieving symptoms and improving patient quality of life.
The MitraClip procedure has a 95 percent success rate. Patients undergoing MitraClip treatment typically experience short recovery times and short hospital stays of less than three days.
For information on this program, please contact the structural heart program coordinator at 909-558-7717.