Heart Valve Replacement News and Info
Recently, I was extremely lucky to observe Dr. Saibal Kar and his team perform its 103rd MitraClip procedure on a patient with severe mitral regurgitation at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California.
Dr. Saibal Kar And Me In The Cath Lab At Cedars-Sinai
While I expected to watch the procedure from a gallery – much [...]
This is an exciting time for the medical treatment of diseased heart valves. As demonstrated in prior blogs, unique technologies are rapidly evolving to correct heart valve disorders including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation. That said, conversations specific to minimally invasive heart valve procedures often stimulate exciting clinical and patient possibilities.
Dr. Husam Balkhy – Chairman [...]
The treatment of diseased heart valves continues to get more-and-more exciting as new technologies continue to shape the way that valvular disorders are corrected. In the minimally invasive space, Edwards Lifesciences, the largest heart valve replacement manufacturer on the planet, just received a CE Mark for its SAPIEN pulmonic transcatheter heart valve device (shown below).
As [...]
Medical advances specific to transcatheter heart valve repair and heart valve replacement are exciting. Considering the patient benefits of these non-invasive technologies, it is expected that these approaches to heart valve treatment could create new, billion dollar products.
That said, it is very safe to assume that transcatheter valvular treatment is already competitive. To develop a [...]
Sarah just sent me this fascinating story about a new super glue, called Kryptonite, used to accelerate sternum healing following open heart surgery. I thought you might appreciate this medical advance featured in Science Daily:
Dr. Paul Fedak - Heart Surgeon & Scientist
Canadian researchers have pioneered a new way to mend a patient’s breastbone after open-heart [...]
I just received a great question from Lauren about aortic valve replacement and robotic surgery.
Lauren writes, “Hi Adam - I’ve read about the use of the da Vinci robot for mitral valve repair. But, I’m curious to know if the robot is ever used for patients with other valve disorders. I have aortic stenosis, due [...]
Edwards Lifesciences, the world’s largest heart valve replacement manufacturer, continued to impress industrial and financial analysts after it reported another great earnings report earlier this week.
The company, based in Irvine, California, saw its profits more than double thanks to rising sales of replacement heart valves - including its new valve, known as the Edwards SAPIEN [...]
Considering my fascination with medical technology, I recently came across an interesting video about the use of stem cells to create heart valve replacements for the treatment of valvular disorders including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation. That said, I thought you might find this video very interesting:
In the past, I have written several stories [...]
As many of you know, I am a technology enthusiast. I love seeing the ways technology can improve our lives - especially when it comes to heart valve surgery. One of the newer technologies in this industry is the MitraClip which is used to treat mitral regurgitation (which results from leaky heart valves).
Over the past [...]
Since posting Lisa’s mitral valve repair success story, my inbox has been flooded with questions about blood transfusions and blood bank safety like:
When was the first blood transfusion?
Who performed the first blood transfusion?
Are there complications with blood transfusions?
What are the blood transfusion guidelines?
Are blood transfusions required during open heart surgery?
These are great questions. However, I’m [...]