Valcare Medical, a company out of Herzliya, Israel, has developed a device and complementary minimally invasive procedure for mitral valve repair and replacement via subxiphoid transapical approach. This involves delivering the firm’s Amend catheter through the chest and into the heart where a D-shaped ring is deployed and positioned to match the annulus of the original valve. A special mechanism provides control for moving and shaping the ring, allowing the physician to affix it accurately to the targeted tissue.
The company has announced that the Amend has now been successfully used in initial procedures on human patients in Italy and Israel, potentially paving way for adoption of the technology for treating mitral regurgitation.
“The procedure was performed on a high surgical risk patient, in a minimally-invasive transapical approach and in a relatively short time”, said Prof. Amit Segev, Director, Cardiac Catheterization Services at The Heart Center at Sheba Medical Center, Israel and Prof. Ehud Ra’anani, Head of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department who performed one of the procedures. “Using the Valcare system we were able to repair the patient’s mitral valve and significantly reduce valvular incompetence, reducing MR from sever (4+) to trace (1). We are excited to be one the first centers in the world to use this novel technology to help our patients.”
Here’s an informative video describing the Amend procedure:
Link: Valcare Medical’s technology info page…
Via: Valcare Medical…