MHIF Valve Science Team Helps Improve Quality of Life for People Suffering From Tricuspid Regurgitation Symptoms

More than 1.6 million patients in the U.S. today have tricuspid regurgitation, which is a difficult-to-manage, age-related disease. In tricuspid regurgitation, the heart’s tricuspid valve does not close properly, causing blood to flow backward (leak) into the right upper heart chamber (atrium) when the right lower heart chamber (ventricle) contracts, reducing its efficiency. Patients with FTR may experience symptoms such as active pulsing in the neck veins, decreased urine output, fatigue/tiredness, general swelling, swelling of the abdomen or feet and ankles, and weakness.

Today’s standard of care for Functional Tricuspid Regurgitation (FTR) is medical management, as surgical intervention is very high risk. To treat the complex disease effectively and restore a patient’s quality of life, new treatment options are needed to repair the tricuspid valve.

That’s why the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation^® (MHIF) Valve Science Center team is excited to be at the forefront of new clinical research that is studying a new minimally invasive treatment option for symptomatic patients suffering from moderate to severe FTR who are at high-risk for open heart surgery. In early October, MHIF researcher Dr. Paul Sorajja, Roger L. and Lynn C. Headrick Family Chair for Valve Science Research, implanted the first 4TECH TriCinch™ System in the Midwest (the 23rd in the world) at Minneapolis Heart Institute^® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. MHIF is one of seven centers in the U.S. conducting the device’s Early Feasibility Study.

The TriCinch™ System is a proprietary, transcatheter, annuloplasty solution for the treatment of FTR by remodeling the tricuspid valve annulus. The procedure is performed by threading a catheter through a patient’s groin without needing to open up the patient’s chest and connect them to a heart-lung bypass machine. The system is expected to allow for treatment of patients, including the elderly, who would otherwise not undergo tricuspid valve repair due to the invasiveness of current techniques.

MHIF’s Valve Science Center is a world-class research and education center for valvular heart disease. Visit our webpage for more information.