2. Expanded use of minimally invasive mitral valve surgery
Mitral valve regurgitation happens to 10% of people over the age of 75. Minimally invasive valve repair devices are seeing expanded approval for patients who have failed to get symptom relief from other therapies.
“The beauty of this mitral clip device is it’s minimally invasive,” Dr. Samir Kapadia, chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, said.
Kapadia said cardiac surgery won’t be all minimally invasive in the future because of mitral valve repair. The procedure is remedying the mitral valve, which is part of a bigger heart failure problem.
There are a number of companies currently in a race to commercialize some of the first mitral valve replacement devices.