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National Heart Valve Awareness Day sheds light on treatment gaps
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February 22 is National Heart Valve Awareness Day, designed to raise awareness of heart health and heart valve disease.
According to a press release from the Minneapolis Heart Institute, patients with heart valve disease are not receiving adequate care and have a survival rate worse than most cancers.
In the United States, heart valve disease affects 5 million people and is the cause of 22,000 deaths per day.
The Minneapolis Heart Institute has established a Valve Science Center which aims to eliminate heart valve disease and educate patients on the dangers and symptoms of heart valve disease.
“I’m proud to lead a Valve Science Center that is dedicated to pursuing a comprehensive understanding of the barriers to care and working to raise awareness of the disease and available treatments,” Paul Sorajja, MD, Roger L. and Lynn C. Headrick Family Chair for Valve Science Research at Minneapolis Heart Institute, said in the release.
To raise further awareness for National Heart Valve Awareness Day, Cardiology Today and Cardiology Today’s Intervention have compiled a list of five articles exploring recent news, research and developments in heart valve disease and technology.
Mitral stenosis elevates risk for HF during pregnancy
Women with symptomatic moderate or severe rheumatic mitral stenosis before pregnancy had an increased risk for complications during pregnancy, including HF, according to a study published in the Go Red for Women’s Issue of Circulation.
Iris M. van Hagen, MD, PhD, cardiology resident at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues analyzed data from 390 women (mean age, 29 years; 75.4% from emerging countries) from the ROPAC registry with rheumatic mitral valve disease.
Experts ponder future of vascular, cardiac intervention
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The field of intervention will look quite different in a decade, according to three experts at the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET).
This year’s meeting featured a townhall session on innovation and the future of aortic and peripheral vascular therapy, structural heart and coronary artery disease therapy, and vascular surgery. According to Michael D. Dake, MD, Martin B. Leon, MD, and Richard Neville, MD, the future of intervention is bright and innovation continues at a rapid pace.
Boston Scientific to acquire maker of treatment for severe mitral regurgitation
Boston Scientific announced it agreed to buy a stake in Millipede Inc., which has developed a transcatheter-based treatment for severe mitral regurgitation, with the option of purchasing the entire company.
According to a press release from Boston Scientific, the company will purchase outstanding shares of Millipede along with newly issued shares of the privately held company for $90 million, with the option to acquire the remaining shares prior to the completion of a first-in-human clinical study of the severe mitral regurgitation treatment (Iris Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System).
Next-generation self-expanding TAVR valve safe, effective in severe aortic stenosis
New data show that a next-generation self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve with an external pericardial wrap was associated with excellent hemodynamic results as well as improved annular sealing with less paravalvular leak in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who were at increased surgical risk.
“Since it was first introduced, transcatheter aortic valve replacement has shown the potential to offer a safer and less invasive therapy for the treatment of patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. The initial TAVR studies showed us this potential, but also pointed out potential pitfalls, including increased paravalvular leak,” John K. Forrest, MD, director of interventional cardiology from the Yale University School of Medicine at The Yale Heart and Vascular Center, told Cardiology Today’s Intervention.
Valve repair with annulus stabilization improves outcomes for aortic valve regurgitation
Patients with aortic valve regurgitation who underwent valve repair with annulus stabilization procedures in addition to novel cusp procedures had improved outcomes compared with those who underwent cusp procedures alone, according to a study published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
“Part of the issue is that there are very few centers that will even attempt aortic valve repair in patients with leaking aortic valves, which is unfortunate because our results show that the results can be very good,” Lars G. Svensson, MD, PhD, chairman of the Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic, told Cardiology Today. “In young patients, that means that they don’t have to have a mechanical valve with a risk related to bleeding with [warfarin].”