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Emergency
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Apollo Lifeline
Verified By Apollo Cardiologist October 18, 2019
Dr. SENGOTTUVELU G
MD DM DNB FRCP (London), FRCP (Glasgow), FSCAI (USA) FMMC, FACP, FCSI
Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology (France)
Sr. Consultant Interventional Cardiologist,
Apollo Main Hospitals,Chennai
Mitraclip is an advanced, innovative catheter-based technology that makes use of a small clip attached to the mitral valve to treat degenerative mitral regurgitation. MitraClip helps mitral valve to close more completely, thus helping restore normal blood flow through the heart. It is a minimally invasive treatment option for patients with mitral regurgitation (valve leak) who are not good candidates for surgery.
Heart has four valves. These valves regulate blood flow through the heart. The mitral valve which is on the left side of the heart controls blood flow from the atrium to the ventricle. This valve has two leaflets that open and close within the heart ensuring that blood travels in only one direction. Mitral regurgitation is leakage of blood backward to the left atrium through the mitral valve each time when the left ventricle contracts. The mitral valve of the heart does not close tightly enough. This lets some of the blood in your heart flow backward or “regurgitate,” into your heart chamber.
Mitral valve prolapse: Mitral valve leaflet tissue is malformed and extended so that these leaflets do not come together normally.
Functional mitral leak due to poor heart function with dilated chambers after a heart attack or other cause of heart muscle injury.
MR can develop as a result of other types of heart diseases, congenital, rheumatic, etc.
MitraClip procedure is done in the cathlab by inserting a catheter through the groin. The catheter (a long, flexible tube) is inserted into a large vein in your groin (femoral vein) and guided to your heart. It is positioned using trans oesophageal echocardiogram and X-ray fluoroscopic images. Transesophageal echocardio- gram aids in the correct placement of the MitraClip. The clip is attached to the mitral valve leaflets, clasping them together firmly and allowing the valve to close better. As soon as the position of the clip is okay with good reduction of valve leak, the clip is released. One or more MitraClips may be used to fix a severely leaky valve. You will be administered with general anesthesia so that you can sleep during the whole procedure with TEE.
Critically leaking mitral valve can current be treated by performing repair or replacement of the mitral valve with open heart surgery. If you have many other medical problems, open heart surgery may be too high risk. In such case, Mitral clip may be good option to treat the leaking valve without open heart surgery. The suitability for the mitral clip procedure will be decided by the heart team consisting of cardiologists Dr. Sengottuvelu G, Dr C S Muthukumaran who are leaders in structural interventions along with the cardiac surgeon and cardiac anesthesiologist. Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) is an important test to decide suitability and specific measurements of the mitral valve.
The advantage of this minimally invasive procedure compared to open heart surgery is that it enables faster recovery leading to better quality of life. This is a very good alternative for patients who are not candidates for open heart surgery (such as the very old and frail, patients with very weak hearts and those individuals who have other non-cardiac conditions involving kidneys, brain or lungs). Patients who have undergone open heart surgery earlier are also considered for the MitraClip procedure as they may be at higher risk for a re-operation.
The content is reviewed and verified by our experienced and highly specialized team of heart specialists who diagnose and treat more than 400 simple-to-complex heart conditions. These specialists dedicate a portion of their clinical time to deliver trustworthy and medically accurate content
