One in five people over the age of 55 in the United States develop a problem with the mitral valve in their heart. In the past the answer to problems like mitral valve regurgitation, which is a condition in which the mitral valve does not close properly and blood is leaked backwards into the heart, was open heart surgery. Now interventional cardiologists have created an alternate procedure by developing a mitral valve clip and a minimally invasive method by which it is quite easily inserted.

Many patients who suffer from mitral valve regurgitation do not realize at first that they are having problems with their heart. One of the biggest symptoms they display is a shortness of breath, which together with fatigue; they may interpret as something else entirely.  In severe cases it can seriously limit the quality of a patient’s life, making more than a few minutes activity extremely difficult.

The new procedure to insert a mitral valve clip is far less invasive than open heart surgery although it takes about the same amount of time – two to three hours on average. This is good both for patients with weaker hearts and those awed by the prospect of large surgical interventions.

During the placement procedure a cardiologist inserts a catheter into a patient’s groin that travels up to the mitral valve. The clip is then carefully fed up through the catheter where it grasps the valves leaflets, effectively putting a stop to the leakage without impeding the normal function of the heart.The catheter is then removed but the clip stays in place.

Apart from the fact that this new procedure is far less invasive than traditional open heart surgery, the recovery time for patients undergoing it is far shorter than for those who have had open heart surgery, averaging just a few weeks rather than months.

According to Dr George Hanzel, who is an interventional cardiologist at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak Michigan, one of 38 centers nationwide where the clip has been used so far, the results he has seen or heard about have been positive “Patients typically say they feel better. They can breathe better. They can do more without having to stop and rest.” For many patients their mitral valve regurgitation is reduced from a severe condition to a trivial issue, allowing them to lead a fuller life overall.