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Jan 30, 2009 7:16 pm US/Central
New Heart Valve Replacement May Eliminate Surgery
Procedure May One Day Eliminate Surgical Approach
New Non-Invasive Heart Valve Replacement May Eliminate Surgery
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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This is an experimental procedure in the U.S., although it has been approved for a couple of years in Europe.
CBS
Here's the problem: sick heart valves can be replaced, either with artificial ones or valves from animals. They work very well. Millions of Americans are walking around with them right now.
But many of the people who need new valves are too sick for the surgery, reports CBS station WCBS-TV.
Milton Rudin is an active and very sharp senior citizen. He walks every day and is a pretty healthy 91-year-old -- except for a problem that cropped up a few years ago.
"The worse symptom of all, I couldn't breathe," Rudin said.
Rudin's heart itself was okay; it was a heart valve that was the problem. His aortic valve was stiff, calcified and not closing correctly. If not replaced it could be disastrous.
"Pressure builds up, blood backs up to the lungs, patients develop heart failure, shortness of breath, chest discomfort and fatigue," said Dr, Martin Leon of NY Presbyterian-Columbia Hospital.
"These patients would have a one-year mortality of 40 percent, worse than most cancers."
Standard treatment is surgery to replace the valve, but at Rudin's age, surgery was too risky. He then qualified for a clinical trial that replaces the aortic valve, without surgery.
A long, thin catheter is threaded up from the groin into the faulty valve. A balloon is then inflated to open a stent, just like an angioplasty except this stent has an animal heart valve in it that pushes aside Rudin's sick valve.
The new leaflets are soft, supple and close like they should with each beat of the heart.
"We have more than five years follow-up on some of the earliest cases, and the valve performance is very much like the surgical valve," Dr. Martin said.
Rudin had his valve replaced two and a half years ago and he's back to his favorite activity.
"Little by little I end up walking at least a mile, two miles," he said. "I don't get out of breath walking uphill."
This is an experimental procedure in the U.S., although it has been approved for a couple of years in Europe. The right candidates are people with diseased valves who are too sick to have open-heart surgery. However, it is presumed this procedure will eventually replace most valve surgery, even for healthy people.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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