New Valve Procedure Doesn't Open Heart

Investigational Operation Uses Tiny Clip To Repair Valve Without Open Heart Surgery

(CBS)  There was a time not long ago when Barletta Hansen's days of good health looked numbered because of something she shared with her mother: a leaky heart valve.

"Our cardiologist said it's very unusual to see a mother and a daughter have the exact same problem," Marylin Hansen says. "I had a guilty feeling. Look what I've given her."

Eight years ago, Marylin Hansen's mitral heart valve was repaired through open heart surgery, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports. That's still the standard procedure for the 50,000 Americans who are operated on each year for this problem.

"She was bloated and grey, and there were tubes coming out of everywhere," Barletta says.

"Oh, it was awful. I hurt so bad, everything hurt," Marylin adds.

When Barletta's valve problem got worse two years ago, she faced the same operation.

"I was terrified of surgery. I was absolutely terrified because I saw my mom go through it, and I saw how much pain she was in," Barletta says.

Desperate for an alternative, she surfed the Internet and found an investigational new procedure, one that uses a tiny clip to repair the valve — and most important, does not require open-heart surgery.

Dr. Bill Gray has done several of the procedures at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and he demonstrated to LaPook how the clip works to close the valve.

Through a small incision, the doctor threads a tube called a catheter into the heart with the tiny clip on the end.

"And when we find that spot, we grab the valve with the clip … and this yellow regurgitation goes away and the valve remains behind," Dr. Gray explains.

Dr. Saibal Kar performed the innovative procedure on Barletta at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

"I think it will be very valuable for either young people like her, or older patients who are not very good surgical candidates," Kar says.

"I was so happy that I was OK, that I had escaped the open heart," Barletta says. "It was like a miracle to me. It was an absolute miracle."

Instead of 10 days in the hospital, there long months of recovery and a lasting scar like her mother — one that she had to have plastic surgery to repair — Barletta was out of the hospital in two days. In less than a week, she was starting back to her regular routine, including exercise.

"I felt surprisingly great," she says.

"What a miracle that she found it on the Internet, that she doesn't have to go through what I went through," Marylin says.

LaPook notes that it will be a few more years before this procedure is widely available. He says it's in the final stages of testing at about 30 hospitals around the country.

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If you'd like to find out more about this procedure, please click here.

[ajcouch]

My mother and I have a similar story to tell. We both suffer from Mitral Valve Prolapse. I am 26 years old and 4 years ago was told I would need valve repair surgery. I have been able to push off having the surgery because my condition is stable. My Mom however, was not able to wait she had valve repair sugery last October. She underwent minimally invasive open heart surgery at Piedmont Hopsital in Atlanta. This story gives me great HOPE. We have been hoping there would be an alternative to open heart surgery that would be available for me in the future. I know EXACTLY what you mean about how terrifying it was to see your Mom go through open heart surgery. This story is very heart warming to me and my Mom because we share a similar bond. Thank You for sharing your story!