Farmer with heart ailment undergoes procedure for MitraClip implant at Apollo Hospital

With no heart available for transplant, he was brought to Apollo Hospital, and his heart function was only 15 per cent when he was admitted, he said.The MitraClip is a small metal clip with a polyester fabric that is inserted in place to fix the leaky mitral valve thereby ensuring that the blood flow is in the right direction.

A 41-year-old farmer from Chennai, who had waited for over three months for a heart transplant, has received a new lease of life after undergoing a procedure for ''MitraClip implant'', a minimally invasive solution for such patients, doctors said on Wednesday.

The operation took place a few days ago at Apollo Hospital in Chennai and the patient was back on his feet within a few days after the procedure, and might not even need a heart transplant, they said.

The doctors from the hospital group interacted with the media on MitraClip implant procedure during an online interaction on Wednesday.

MitraClip implant is not done via surgery but in a cath lab using a percutaneous approach. It is a small metal clip with a polyester fabric that is inserted in place to fix the leaky mitral valve and reduces the flow of blood in the wrong direction, the doctors said.

It does not require open heart surgery and the MitraClip is put in place via a minimally invasive approach through the femoral vein in the groin, they said.

The MitraClip is delivered to the heart using the catheter under real-time 3D echocardiographic and fluoroscopic guidance. The device is removable and repositionable, and recovery is fast with a quick return to normal activity, the doctors said, adding the patient was discharged on Wednesday.

The healthcare group, in a statement, said the farmer had ''waited for over three months at different hospitals for a heart transplant''.

The patient with no co-morbidities was healthy until early this year, and had one episode of heart failure in early January with severe mitral regurgitation, i.e. blood in his heart was flowing backward as the mitral valve between his upper left heart chamber (left atrium) and the lower left heart chamber (left ventricle) was not closing tightly, said Dr Sai Satish, senior interventional cardiologist, Apollo hospital, Chennai.

He went into refractory heart failure and was put on the heart transplant list. Even on maximum possible medication, his condition was worsening. With no heart available for transplant, he was brought to Apollo Hospital, and his heart function was only 15 per cent when he was admitted, he said.

''The MitraClip is a small metal clip with a polyester fabric that is inserted in place to fix the leaky mitral valve thereby ensuring that the blood flow is in the right direction. It is a globally accepted procedure for patients with heart failure," Dr Satish said.

''Patients with moderate to severe or severe primary and secondary mitral regurgitation who are not improving on medical treatment can opt for this minimally invasive solution that offers them a vastly improved quality of life and health,'' he said.

The hospital group in the statement claimed that data from 119 patients in the International MitraBridge Registry on critically-ill patients on a transplant list showed ''procedural success was achieved in 87.5 per cent of cases and 30-day survival was 100 per cent''. Preetha Reddy, executive vice chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group said, "As one of the few hospitals in India accredited to perform the MitraClip procedure, being able to save the life of a patient waiting for a heart transplant gives us the ability to offer hope to many others.'' Patients with severe or end-stage heart failure comprise up to 10 per cent of patients suffering from heart disease. Research has shown that using MitraClip as a ''bridge to heart transplantation'' is safe and may even lead to functional improvements that permit patients to be removed from the transplant list, Reddy said.

MitraClip was introduced in India just three years ago. The first MitraClip was implanted in 2003 in a patient in the US. It was a game-changing procedure and was made commercially available in Europe in 2008 and in the US in 2013.

Today over 100,000 patients in more than 50 countries have undergone the MitraClip procedure, the healthcare group said.

The implant gives a new lease of life for frail and elderly patients who cannot go in for conventional open-heart surgery.

The minimally invasive MitraClip procedure is effective in both functional and degenerative mitral regurgitation, it said.

Repeat hospitalisations are avoided after the MitraClip procedure as compared to conventional surgery, making it economical in the long run and patients are able to recover and resume life in a very short span of time, the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)