MitraClip(R) Therapy Data Shows Important Clinical Benefit in High Risk Patients With Functional Mitral Regurgitation at 12-Month...( EVEREST High-Risk Registry Data Shows...),Health

EVEREST High-Risk Registry Data Shows Improved Symptomatic Status and Cardiac Function in Functional MR Patients Treated with the MitraClip(R) System

ORLANDO, Fla., March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Percutaneous mitral valve repair using the MitraClip(R) system in symptomatic high-risk surgical patients with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) improves patient clinical status, and left ventricular function, according to 12-month data from the high-risk registry arm of the EVEREST II (Endovascular Valve Edge-to-Edge REpair STudy) study presented today at the 58th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) i2 Summit Scientific Sessions.

As the most common type of heart valve disease, MR affects more than four million people in the United States, the majority of which have FMR. There are 250,000 new diagnoses of significant MR each year; however only 20 percent, or approximately 50,000, of these patients undergo surgery each year. Many higher risk surgical patients and non-surgical patients continue to be affected by the chronic volume overload caused by MR, which requires the heart to work harder, and may ultimately lead to heart failure.

The data were presented today by Ted Feldman, M.D., director of the cardiac catheterization lab at Evanston North Shore Hospital and co-principal investigator of the EVEREST trials.

"The high-risk registry data in the functional MR patients demonstrate that these patients benefit substantially from the MitraClip(R) therapy," said Dr. Feldman. "By expanding the options available to these patients, clinical practice will change for the better when this therapy is available in the U.S."

Patients considered at high-risk for surgery are those with increased likelihood of mortality following surgery, usually because of advanced age and co-morbidities, which limit their treatment options. Without MR reduction, these symptomatic
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