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Jymme Golden: Aortic Valve

March 6, 2023

Jymme Golden enjoys painting, birding, kayaking and taking walks through nature. Recently retired from a 27-year career of being a massage therapist, Jymme began experiencing signs and symptoms that her heart wasn’t able to pump the blood and oxygen needed to feel energized and healthy – though this wasn’t her first experience with these symptoms.

Jymme was born with a congenital defect in her heart valve, and had her aortic valve replaced 20 years ago at the young age of 45. More recently, she felt tired and out of breath and had to remind herself that this wasn’t just because she was getting older. Under the guidance of Dr. Vinnie Bapat, the interdisciplinary team at the Allina Health Minneapolis Heart Institute carefully evaluated Jymme’s options and decided that the best route for her was to undergo her second open heart surgery to replace her degenerating homograft that was implanted 20 years ago.

While we often talk about the innovation in new technologies that allow for minimally invasive procedures, in Jymme’s special case even surgical options have significantly advanced because of cardiovascular research. Learn more about Jymme’s story and the research that takes place at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Valve Science Center.

Give the Gift of Hope

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The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation® (MHIF) strives to create a world without heart and vascular disease. To achieve this bold vision, we are dedicated to improving the cardiovascular health of individuals and communities through innovative research and education.

Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, we can continue this life-saving work. Please make a gift to support the area of greatest need.

Research Milestone: FDA approves device used as alternative to open-heart

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Triclip team

We are honored to celebrate the culmination of years of research that has resulted in new technologies for patients! In the few last weeks, we announced a similar research milestone with the FDA approval of the TriClip system for tricuspid regurgitation. We celebrated this important milestone with local media KSTP-TV, who spotlighted the importance of this new technology. We were proud to be a leading clinical site led by Global PI Dr. Paul Sorajja and the MHIF research team who contributed significant data to the pivotal trial.