A first: heart specialists place a brand new artificial mitral valve in AZ Sint-Jan Brugge
The artificial mitral valve was placed on an 80-year-old man. The new artificial valve will still give a chance to many high-risk patients who are not eligible for open heart surgery.
Avoiding Open Heart Surgery
The facts date back to February 17, 2022. It is the first time such a thing has happened in Europe and the United States.
Catheter techniques have the great advantage that they allow surgery without stopping the heart or opening the chest. The HighLife CLARITY implant offers a solution for patients who are not eligible for open heart surgery because the pumping function of the heart is already too weakened and for whom the MitraClip is not the ideal solution.
The regular MitraClip has been around for more than ten years and makes it possible to repair a leaking mitral heart valve via catheter techniques and thus avoid open heart surgery for high-risk patients. In 2009, interventional cardiologist Dr Jan Van der Heyden (pictured) was one of the first in Europe to perform this procedure.
No long rehabilitation is required after such a catheter procedure. The patient was allowed to return home after a few days.