Mitral Valve Leakage Treatment
October 7, 202192-yr-old’s Mitral valve leakage treated for the first time in Gujarat without opening chest or heart.
Gujarat origin US Doctor performs Minimally Invasive procedure (PMVR) to repair valve leakage with Mitraclip at Apollo CVHF
In a first-of-its-kind advanced cardiology procedure in Gujarat, leakage in the mitral valve of a 92-year-old elderly was repaired using the novel non-invasive Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair (PMVR) technique at Apollo CVHF Hospital. The leakage was `clipped’ or treated without opening the chest or the heart using Mitraclip.
The procedure was carried out at Apollo CVHF Heart Institute Ahmedabad by three visiting Cardiology experts from US: renowned interventional Cardiologist of Gujarati origin Dr.Raj Makkar, Cardiologist Dr.Tarun Chakravarti and Cardiac Anaesthesiologist Dr.Moody Makar along with Dr. Sai Satish -renowned interventional Cardiologist from Chennai and Dr.Sameer Dani. Dr.Raj Makkar is a world expert in transcatheter Mitral valve repair procedures and has done the highest number of Mitraclip procedures in US in 2020. Correspondingly Dr.Sai Satish has done highest number of such procedures in India.
The 92 years old patient had been suffering from heart issues owing to valve leakage for
12 years. Even after several interventions and treatment, his condition did not improve. He was referred to Apollo CVHF for further diagnosis. A team led by Dr. Sameer Dani, Director, Cardiology Services at Apollo CVHF, conducted a thorough investigation and derived at clipping the leakage using a non-invasive method. Given the age of the patient, any outwardly invasive procedure or surgery would have been critical.
Speaking about the procedure of PMVR, Dr Sameer Dani, Director, Cardiology Services at Apollo CVHF said, “PMVR is a likely game-changer for many cardiac patients battling mitral valve regurgitation and resultant heart complications. It is a minimally invasive procedure wherein the chest or the heart is not opened to repair the leaking valve. Using this new technique, the heart is approached through the femoral artery. By making a small puncture from the right side of the heart through the septum between the atrium, the left side of the heart is reached. Once it is done, the leaking valve is simply repaired by delivering a stitch which is a kind of a staple. It is called Mitraclip.”
Dr Dani further added that PMVR significantly reduces the morbidity, risk and recovery time of the patients. Against the average seven-day hospitalization in open-heart surgery, a patient post PMVR procedure is discharged in two to three days. The risk of mortality is cut from 1-2% in surgery to 0.5%.
Malfunctioning of Mitral Valve is a relatively common cardiac ailment among the Indian population. Nearly 2% of the adult population has some degree of leakage from the mitral valve. With age, the mitral valve leakage incidence rises. In the population of 40-60 years, it ranges from 15-20%, while in 75 years plus, this is reported to be as high as 25-30%.
Mild-moderate cases of valve leakage are usually managed through medications; however, surgical interventions such as valve repair or valve replacement are needed when it progresses to moderate to severe.
The typical symptom of Mitral valve disease is breathlessness which first manifests during exertion but later, as the condition deteriorates, persists even at rest. The 92-year-old patient also mainly suffered breathlessness and was hospitalized six times in the past eight months. The elderly patient is stable now, and the doctors are hopeful of an event-free recovery.
Apollo CVHF Heart Institute is one of Gujarat’s leading cardiac care centers using state-of-art interventional technology and conventional surgical options.
