Data Shows Benefits of Abbott Vascular's MitraClip to Treat Severe Mitral Valve Regurgitation

February 2, 2015—Data presented at ISET 2015: the 27^th annual International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET) in Hollywood, Florida, showed that repairing severe mitral valve regurgitation by clipping together the valve’s leaflets with the MitraClip device (Abbott Vascular) can improve function and quality of life and reduce the risk of hospitalization.

In ISET’s press release, Ramon Quesada, MD, commented, “In many cases, one clip is sufficient; however, in one-third of the patients, additional clips are necessary to reduce the degree of regurgitation without producing stenosis, making the valve too tight. That’s good news, especially for people with no other options.”

Dr. Quesada is Medical Director of Interventional Cardiology and Cardiac Research for the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, Florida.

Dr. Quesada was an investigator in the EVEREST II trial of the MitraClip that enrolled 279 patients with severe mitral valve disease. Patients were randomized to either undergo surgical repair (95 patients) or to have the clip placed (184 patients). In the subgroup of patients who were at high risk for surgical repair, investigators found that the MitraClip procedure was beneficial because it improved the patient’s cardiovascular function and reduced the rate of hospitalization for heart failure, according to the ISET announcement.

In October 2013, Abbott Vascular announced that the MitraClip device received US Food and Drug Administration approval and was launched in the United States.