Heart team at Zurich University Hospital use Cardioband for tricuspid repair for the first time

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Cardioband
Cardioband

Francesco Maisano (University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland) led a team of cardiac surgeons and cardiologists to perform percutaneous direct annuloplasty with the Cardioband system (Valtech) to treat a 75-year-old patient with tricuspid regurgitation. According to a press release, the patient is doing well.

At present the only available treatment for tricuspid regurgitation is open heart surgery using a heart-lung machine. Maisano explains: “As tricuspid insufficiency often arises as a consequence of diseases of the mitral valve, open heart procedures are a risky surgical intervention. The Cardioband is a minimally invasive therapy that does not require the use of a heart-lung machine, reducing the impact on the patient and lowering the risk. Now, even patients previously thought to be inoperable can be treated.”

Cardioband is designed to be an innovative and low-impact repair method for treating mitral valve regurgitation in inoperable patients.  The press release reports that Francesco Maisano played a key role in the development of the system, which enables the tightening of an annulus. During the procedure, the band is placed around the annulus with the help of a catheter, secured with small anchors and tightened using a wire until the valve closes fully again.