MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Physicians at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit last month became the 1st in the U.S. to use a minimally invasive technique to replace a failing tricuspid valve.
The team used a transcatheter aortic valve implant in the procedure, after the patient was turned down at 1 major medical center and doctors at another said her only option was a heart transplant.
Led by Henry Ford cardiologist Dr. William O’Neill, the team replaced the valve during a 2-hour operation July 31.
"There are a lot of people who have damage of the tricuspid valve, and the surgery is risky, so doctors just try to give them medical therapy," O’Neill said in prepared remarks. "They get a lot of swelling and severe liver congestion. They’re in and out of the hospital, and it really causes a lot of morbitity. So there’s a huge, unmet clinical need. Individuals with this type of valve problem now have another option."
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