ABSTRACT
Over four million Europeans and a similar number Americans suffer from significant mitral regurgitation (MR). Approximately 250,000 new patients are diagnosed with the disease annually. The disorder generally evolves insidiously over many years because the heart compensates for the regurgitant volume by left atrial enlargement, left ventricular (LV) volume overload, and progressive (LV) dilatation. The most common causes of MR include ischemic heart disease, non-ischemic heart disease, and valve degeneration. Mitral valve surgery has long been the only treatment available with proven efficacy for MR. It alleviates clinical symptoms and prevents ventricular dilatation and heart failure, or attenuates further progression of this process. Surgical valve repair significantly improves clinical outcomes compared with valve replacement, reducing mortality by approximately 70%. However, patients with heart failure have both higher acute risk and significant rates of late MR recurrence after surgical repair of ischemic MR. Recently, a number of percutaneous modalities of mitral valve repair have been developed. Most of these techniques are still at early stages of clinical evaluation. The MitraClip System consists of a percutaneous edge-to-edge attachemnt system that mimics the surgical procedure. This technique creates a bridge between the anterior and posterior leaflet by means of a clip deployed through trans-septal catheterization. The growing experience show that percutaneous edge-to-edge repair using the MitraClip system is feasible, safe and, in overall, effective, with very promising clinical results when performed in carefully selected patients, The new technique does not represent a general alternative to conventional surgical valve repair, which remains the gold standard particularly in the patients with degenerative MR. However, it offers a valid option in patients unsuitable for surgery and those with functional MR secondary to advanced heart failure, where the surgical approach still remains empiric.
