ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Mitral valve procedures are often not performed because of the standing belief that LVAD support resolves mitral regurgitation, due to better left heart performance.
A new study in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery found when individuals have right heart dysfunction or severe mitral regurgitation preoperatively, an LVAD doesn't extinguish the risk of right heart failure.
“Only recently have issues with the mitral valve been challenged in regard to mitral valve regurgitation,” says lead author Paul Tang, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiac surgeon at Michigan Medicine’s Frankel Cardiovascular Center.
“We need to look aggressively about addressing mitral regurgitation particularly in patients who are not transplant candidates and will live with the LVAD long term."
“You cannot study the mitral valve in isolation and get the whole picture,” Tang adds. "It’s a downstream valve, so it can affect many different upstream pieces of the puzzle."
To schedule an interview with Dr. Paul Tang, contact Jordyn Imhoff at [email protected].
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