Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, performs the 1st Trans-catheter Mitral valve repair with Mitraclip Implant, in the Telugu sates!

• Performed on a frail 87-year-old male patient
• Conventionally an open-heart surgery was the solution, but this patient wasn’t fit
• Trans-catheter Mitral valve repair is minimally invasive and patient-friendly

Hyderabad, April 20, 2022: Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, successfully performed a Trans Catheter Mitral valve repair MITRACLIP Implant, on an 87-year-old male patient, diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation or valvular leakage and the lung disease COPD, at Apollo Hospital, Jubilee Hills. Dr Sai Satish, Sr. Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai; Dr Manoj Agarwal, Sr. Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad; Dr B.V.A. Ranga Reddy, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad; Dr P.C. Rath, Sr. Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad and Dr Ravindra Babu, Director Medical Services, Apollo Hospitals, Jubilee Hills; briefed about performing of this minimally invasive patient friendly procedure for the first time in the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

This patient has been suffering with severe breathing difficulty and was admitted multiple times in different hospitals even after optimal medical management. He was shifted to Apollo Hospitals and needed constant oxygen support. He was unable to move from bed in view of severe breathing difficulty. Conventionally the Mitral valve repair involves a major open-heart surgery. This gentleman was not fit for the surgery and involved enormous risk to his life. Untreated he would have continued to be breathless and succumbed. Mitra clip is a miracle therapy for such patients.

After thorough evaluation and discussion, the team of cardiologist at Apollo Hospitals, decided to go for a non-valvular mitral valve repair with Mitraclip. The Mitraclip is a small metal clip with polyester fabric that is inserted in place to fix the leaky mitral valve, thereby ensuring the flow of blood, in the right direction. The loosening of the Mitral valve leads to leakage of blood. Mitraclip grips the valve tightly and prevents blood leakage. Mitraclip implant gives a new lease of life for frail and elderly patients who cannot go in for conventional open-heart surgery. The minimally invasive Mitraclip procedure is effective in both functional and degenerative Mitral regurgitation. The procedure is performed percutaneously in Cath lab and the device is removable and repositionable. Diligent patient selection is critical to ensure success of this procedure. Only a handful of cardiologists at select centres in the country are trained to perform the procedure, as it’s a highly skilful procedure. Conventionally an open-heart surgery was needed to repair the valve, which was highly risky, especially among the elderly. It involved heavy blood loss, post-surgery complications, infections, prolonged hospital stay and recovery time.

Post procedure, the patient is doing well and is due for discharge. The Trans Cather Mitral valve repair with Mitraclip Implant, is helping the patient to lead a better quality of life devoid of oxygen support and he is moving on his own. Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, is authorised to perform the procedure under post marketing surveillance. Dr Sai Satish, an expert in structural heart disease procedures, is the investigator and Dr B.V.A. Ranga Reddy, is the co-investigator for this Mitraclip procedure and was performed for the first time in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Dr Sai Satish, who performed the highest number of MitraClip implants in the country with over 75% of the entire countries volume being done by him, speaking on the occasion said, heart failure is the commonest or number one cause for hospitalisation in the world, in a year 26 mn heart failure cases are diagnosed, if we include the undiagnosed ones, estimates could be 35 to 36 mn in the world. 50% of these will be re-hospitalised with in 6 months. If the mitral valve gets damaged, the blood instead of going to the body will go in the reverse direction, which leads to body not getting sufficient blood, instead the blood will go to lungs and patient develops breathing difficulties with a poor quality of life. Through this procedure the leaking portion of the valve is clipped with Mitraclip and the blood flows to the body. This patient Mr Ramakrishna Sastry was admitted for heart failure in the last one year for six times, in five different hospitals. But within 24 hours of getting implanted with Mitralclip he could read newspaper and was discharged on the third day of admission.

Dr B.V.A. Ranga Reddy said, the patient was suffering from severe valve leakage for the last one year with panting, breathlessness, almost 6 times he was admitted in various hospitals. Because of his advanced age and problem in lung with COPD, he was considered to be a high-risk patient for surgery, therefore the patient couldn’t be provided much relief in the other hospitals. When we diagnosed him at Apollo Hospitals, we thought the only and most appropriate treatment for him was Mitraclip and performed it on him.   

Patient’s son P. Vishwanath said, from last June onwards he was hospitalised for 6 times, of those 2 times in March month itself. The results after this Mitraclip procedure are amazing, earlier even to sit on the bed he used to feel uneasy and breathless, today he is able to do that effortlessly, without any difficulty.