BOISE, Idaho — Saint Alphonsus is one of the around 80 hospitals in the United States, Canada and Europe to patriciate in the Tendyne Mitral Valve System clinical trial, which involves a new minimally invasive heart valve replacement.
The procedure is now available to patients at the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise and looks to provide a new way of doing heart valve replacements, that is less invasive to the patient.
“Many patients may have mitral regurgitation and not even know it and may not require any medical intervention. But in more severe cases, the patient could experience fatigue, shortness of breath, leg swelling, dizziness, and an overall lack of energy. And left untreated, over time the heart can become enlarged or weaken, and patients can experience irregular heart rhythms,” Saint Alphonsus Cardiothoracic Surgery Medical Director Dr. Farivar said. “It’s a great compliment to our cardiothoracic team that Saint Alphonsus is the only hospital in the region offering this major clinical trial to its patients.”
The mitral valve in the heart is one of four valves that opens to let blood flow forward and closes to prevent the backflow of blood, but if the valve fails, it then results in mitral regurgitation.
“This clinical trial is significant because it’s testing a method to replace the mitral valve without requiring a traditional open-heart surgery or having the patient connected to a heart-lung machine,” Dr. Farivar added.
According to a press release from Saint Alphonsus staff, “Saint Alphonsus joins a prestigious list of hospitals and medical centers participating in the trial, including Stanford Health Care, the University of California at San Francisco, University of Southern California University Hospital, University of Michigan, the Cleveland Clinic, Providence Heart and Vascular (Portland), University of Virginia Medical Center, and Swedish Medical Center (Seattle).”
