Cath Lab Achieves Another First
The Interventional Cardiology team laid claim to another New England first as BWH became the only medical center in the region to use a groundbreaking, non-invasive procedure to repair a leaky heart valve. In August, Andrew Eisenhauer, MD, associate director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, led a team of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and technicians in a non-surgical, percutaneous procedure on a patient suffering from acute mitral regurgitation (MR).
The patient, 57-year-old Claudia Thorstensen, was back to work in a Boston law firm on the Tuesday following her Friday procedure. “I even did laundry that weekend,” she said.
MR is a disorder in which the two-piece mitral valve does not close properly, and that causes blood to leak backwards between heart chambers with each beat. If left untreated, the heart becomes progressively weaker with symptoms including extreme fatigue and shortness of breath, which can potentially lead to congestive heart failure. Approximately 50,000 people each year undergo open-heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass requiring lengthy hospital stays to correct MR.
BWH is one of 30 facilities in the U.S., and the only in New England, to offer this procedure as part of a clinical trial. During the procedure, the Cardiac Catheterization team guide a catheter inserted in the femoral vein to the heart where it attaches a “clip” to the loose leaflets of the mitral valve.
“This achievement is multi-disciplinary in every way. Each case is considered by a team of anesthesiologists, cardiologists, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons involved in treating this devastating medical condition,” said Campbell Rogers, MD, director of BWH’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. The clip placement, done under general anesthesia, was achieved with echocardiographic guidance from cardiology echocardiographers and with 3-D echocardiographic guidance.
BWH is one of a few facilities in the country to offer minimally invasive valve repair surgery, too. In the past decade, cardiac surgeons at BWH have safely performed hundreds of minimally invasive procedures, which minimize hospital stays for patients. The cath lab procedure represents an exciting new interface of surgical experience and medical expertise.
“For our patients who suffer from MR, this new, non-invasive option could significantly improve outcomes and quality of life as it allows patients to go home from the hospital within a few days and generally recuperate in much less time than open surgery,” Eisenhauer said. “It's an option to consider for patients who meet the criteria,” he said.