New Tricuspid Valve Procedure Helps Patients Avoid Open-Heart Surgery

DETROIT - A breakthrough in treating tricuspid regurgitation, or TR, is giving hope to patients who are too sick to safely undergo open-heart surgery.

Dr. Tiberio Frisoli, MD, and the Structural Heart disease team at Henry Ford Health, are the first in Michigan to perform the minimally invasive Tri-Clip procedure, which allows cardiologists to repair the tricuspid valve without the need for open-heart surgery. Since August, the team at Henry Ford Hospital has successfully treated seven heart patients with TR using the Tri-Clip procedure.

"It's literally a clip. You grab the leaflets, which are flaps of tissue inside the valve, and pin them together to reduce the leakiness of the tricuspid valve. It's a tricky procedure. It's a labor-intensive procedure and requires experienced interventional and imaging cardiologists," Dr. Frisoli said.

The tricuspid valve is one of four valves in the heart that open and close for blood to pass. For heart patients with TR, the tricuspid valve doesn't close completely forcing blood to move backwards, or regurgitate. In a healthy heart, blood flows in a forward direction. A leaky tricuspid valve ultimately causes the heart to work harder, and the heart becomes weaker over time. For people with TR, life can be miserable.

"When patients have tricuspid regurgitation, they have swelling and fatigue. They get swelling in their legs. Their liver and kidneys may get congested over time. You don't always die from it, but you can live a miserable life for years and years," said Dr. Frisoli.

The tricuspid valve has long been considered the 'forgotten valve,' because there were so few options for treating tricuspid regurgitation.

"Now that there's a therapy for it, we are getting so many referrals. I'd estimate twenty percent of the patients I'm seeing now are TR patients," said Dr. Frisoli.

Earlier this year, Henry Ford Health was selected to receive a new transcatheter heart valve device as part of a clinical trial that was approved for commercial use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat severe tricuspid regurgitation. The Edwards EVOQUE Tricuspid Valve Replacement System is the first artificial heart valve delivered to the heart via catheter. With the FDA's approval of the TriClip by Abbott, Henry Ford Health cardiologists now have a second procedure to better treat, and ultimately improve the quality of life for patients suffering from TR.

"We can give patients hope and we can treat more patients," Dr. Frisoli said.

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