doctors mention. In a fashionable study

March 17, 2010 (Atlanta) -- A clothespin-type appliance namely clips together thepartially open doors of leaky center valves may leftover some patients the absence foropen heart surgery, doctors say. In a current study, the mow was safer and worked almost as well for surgery forpeople with the leaky valve condition understood for mitral valve regurgitation. But the patients were merely followed for 1 annual -- not enough time to trulygauge the effectiveness of the current technique, some experts mention. Repairing Mitral Valves About 250,000 Americans are diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation eachyear. The mitral valve namely favor a saloon gate that opens to let blood stream intothe heart's chief pumping compartment. When it fails to close properly, blood flowsbackward, sapping the efficiency of the heart. Over time, as the heartcontinues to disable, patients can develop life-threatening heart failure. For human with severe symptoms, such as breathlessness while wading acrossthe chamber, physicians typically attempt surgery, which involves splitting open thechest to repair alternatively replace the valve. About 100,000 Americans have mitral valvesurgery every year, says study brain Ted Feldman, MD, of NorthShore UniversityHealth System in Evanston, Ill. If the patient is also age alternatively has also numerous other health problems to toleratesurgery, heart failure medications are given, he says. These are the patients maximum probable to behalf from the new device, calledMitraClip, specialists mention. It's already on the market in Europe and is awaitingFDA approval. The puny clip is mounted onto a catheter and then threaded into the heartthrough one incision in an aisle in the groin. The technique is similar to thatused in angioplasty procedures to open clogged heart arteries. Clip May Help Repair Leaky Mitral Valves: Study Details The new study comprised 279 patients: 184 were assigned to get the MitraClipand 95 to surgery. The clip procedure was offered in 178 patients andsuccessful in 137. The findings were reported by the annual appointment of the American College ofCardiology (ACC). Ten percentage of folk treated with the clip capable important complicationswithin 30 days, compared to 57% who underwent surgery. There were no deathswith the clip; 2 surgery patients died. As because effectiveness, the study was charted to show that the apparatus was notsubstantially lesser to surgery by one year and at that test, it passed.After one year, 72% of MitraClip patients and 88% of surgery patients did nothave solemn leakage, which showed the clip was no statistically minor tosurgery, Feldman says. Unlike surgery patients, who tin be in the hospital because nearly a week afteropen heart procedures, people treated with the clip are constantly up and walkingaround within a day or two, Feldman says. "We have opened the gate for a new adoption for patients," Feldman says.