The pictured device, produced by Baltimore-based Harpoon Medical, seeks to provide another in a series of recent improvements in mitral valve repair technology. While perhaps less revolutionary in form than Valtech Cardio’s Cardioband that received its CE Mark approval last week, the Harpoon does promise to cut traditional surgeries down to under an hour in length and drastically reduce the required incision size (to 2-inches or less).
The Harpoon works to eliminate mitral valve regurgitation by attaching artificial chordae tendinae to prolapsed valve leaflets (not entirely unlike the NeoChord DS1000). By doing so, it allows surgeons to bypass opening up the rib cage, utilizing heart-lung machines, and stopping patient hearts. As such, typical recovery time is cut down from weeks to days.
Harpoon Medical is currently following 10 patients enrolled in an early feasibility study and will present results at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2015 Conference taking place between October 11th and 15th. A funding round targeting $2 million to close in September will finance clinical trial work that intends to commence patient enrollment by the end of this year.
Here’s an animation describing the Harpoon procedure:
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