El Camino Hospital Among First in United States to Offer Breakthrough Device for Patients with Mitral Valve Disease

-Minimally invasive device pioneered by El Camino Hospital physician improves quality of life for patients with debilitating heart valve disease who are at prohibitive surgical risk- 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif, December 18 – Physicians at El Camino Hospital are among the first in the United States to offer patients suffering from mitral regurgitation (MR) a breakthrough new minimally invasive treatment option. The MitraClip device has been approved for U.S. patients with severe symptomatic degenerative MR who are at prohibitive risk for mitral valve surgery.  El Camino Hospital also carries the distinction of having been the birthplace and one of the original investigational sites for the device.  Frederick St. Goar, MD, pioneered the breakthrough concept and was instrumental in the development of the technology, which was eventually sold to and brought to market by Abbott Vascular. 

“The availability of the MitraClip means that for patients, who before, may not have been able to withstand surgery, now have a less-invasive treatment option that can help them regain their quality of life,” said Dominick Curatola, MD, chair, medical director, Norma Melchor Heart & Vascular Institute of El Camino Hospital.  “It’s also exceptionally meaningful that a device that was developed right on our campus will have significant impact on patients all over the country and around the world, and we are extremely proud of Dr. St. Goar and the team that worked so long and hard to develop this important technology.” 

MR is a debilitating, progressive and life-threatening disease in which a leaky mitral valve causes a backward flow of blood in the heart.  Mitral regurgitation is common, affecting more than 4 million Americans – nearly one in 10 people aged 75 and above.[i]   Degenerative MR is a type of MR caused by an anatomic defect of the mitral valve of the heart. The condition can raise the risk of irregular heartbeats, stroke, and heart failure, which can be deadly.  Prohibitive risk is determined by the clinical judgment of a heart team due to the presence of one or more documented surgical risk factors. 

Open heart mitral valve surgery is the standard of care treatment, but many patients are at prohibitive risk for an invasive procedure. Medications for the condition are limited to symptom management and do not stop the progression of the disease. 

Abbott's MitraClip repairs the mitral valve without the need for an invasive surgical procedure. The device is delivered to the heart through the femoral vein, a blood vessel in the leg, and once implanted, allows the heart to pump blood more efficiently, thereby relieving symptoms and improving patient quality of life. Patients undergoing MitraClip treatment typically experience short recovery times and short hospital stays of three days. 

Multiple trials, published reports, and registries of patients treated with the MitraClip device consistently demonstrate a positive safety profile, reduction in mitral regurgitation, improvement in symptoms, and reduction in hospitalizations for heart failure, even in some of the most ill and debilitated patients. More than 11,000 patients in more than 30 countries have been treated with the MitraClip device.

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Additional information about MitraClip, including important safety information, is available online at:

http://www.abbottvascular.com/static/cms_workspace/pdf/ifu/structural_heart/eIFU_MitraClip.pdf

About El Camino Hospital

El Camino Hospital is an acute-care, 443-bed, nonprofit and locally governed organization with campuses in Mountain View and Los Gatos, Calif.  In addition to state-of-the-art emergency departments, key medical specialties include neuroscience, heart and vascular, cancer care, urology, orthopedic and spine, genomic medicine, and the only Women’s Hospital in Northern California.  The hospital is recognized as a national leader in the use of health information technology and wireless communications, and has been awarded the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center as well as back-to-back ANCC Magnet Recognitions for Nursing Care.

To learn more, visit our website, find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or view our videos on YouTube. For a physician referral, visit our website or call the El Camino Health Line at 800-216-5556.

About the Fogarty Clinical Research Institute

The Fogarty Clinical Research Institute (FCRI), affiliated with the Fogarty Institute for Innovation, is a dedicated research site on the campus of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA.  FCRI serves to bring innovative treatment options to the community through effective and responsible clinical research. FCRI fosters collaboration between investigators, healthcare institutions, and industry leaders in order to provide the community with the most advanced treatment options available. To learn more about the organization, visit http://www.fogartyclinicalresearch.org/.

[i] Nkomo VT, Gardin JM, Skelton TN, Gottdiener JS, Scott CG, Enriquez-Sarano M. Burden of valvular heart diseases: a population-based study.  Lancet. 2006 Sep 16;368(9540):1005-11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16980116