Percutaneous mitral heart valve repair--MitraClip

Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common cardiac valvular disease in the United States. Approximately 4 million people have severe MR and roughly 250,000 new diagnoses of MR are made each year. Mitral valve surgery is the only treatment that prevents progression of heart failure and provides sustained symptomatic relief. Mitral valve repair is preferred over replacement for the treatment of MR because of freedom from anticoagulation, reduced long-term morbidity, reduced perioperative mortality, improved survival, and better preservation of left ventricular function compared with valve replacement. A large proportion of patients in need of valve repair or replacement do not undergo such procedures because of a perceived unacceptable perioperative risk. Percutaneous catheter-based methods for valvular pathology that parallel surgical principles for valve repair have been developed over the last few years and have been proposed as an alternate measure in high-risk patients. The MitraClip (Abbott Labs) device is one such therapy and is the subject of this review.