‘Holy grail’ in heart valve replacement surgery
_800_533.png)
In a Victorian first, a new keyhole procedure at The Alfred is giving hope to patients with a common yet deadly heart valve disease who have been previously considered ineligible for lifesaving surgery due to their age or health.
Prior to the breakthrough, the only cure for mitral valve regurgitation, known as a ‘leaky mitral valve’, was to replace the faulty valve via gruelling open heart surgery or risk heart failure.
Interventional cardiologist at The Alfred, Associate Professor Tony Walton, says that being able to replace a valve without surgery is considered the ‘holy grail.’
“Patients with a leaking mitral valve are often older and in poor health, automatically ruling them out of the surgery they need to extend their life,” Assoc Professor Walton.
Patients with a leaky mitral valve, which is a flap responsible for stopping blood from flowing the wrong way, could experience severe shortness of breath, dizziness or heart palpitations, and the condition would ultimately lead to heart failure, said Assoc Professor Walton.
“Transcatheter mitral valve replacement is ground breaking in that it’s a minimally invasive procedure that will significantly improve a patient’s quality of life, as well as extend their life span.
“Avoiding open heart surgery importantly also means that we immediately reduce the risk of serious complication,” said Assoc Prof Walton.
In the procedure, which takes between three to five hours, specialists insert a metal ring through a vein in the leg, and secure it in the valve site with the use of ultrasound.
The Alfred conducted its first case last month on a female 86 year old patient, who has recovered and discharged home only five days after the procedure.
“This represents a revolution in how we manage mitral valve replacements,” said Assoc Prof Walton. “Ultimately we want to be offering this procedure to all our patients.”
This advancement builds on a recent milestone at The Alfred, which saw the cardiac team become the first in the state to perform 1000 Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implementation cases for patients with aortic stenosis – again, eliminating the need for open heart surgery.
