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Southside Hospital has just made history in healthcare in the Northeast.
For the first time-ever in the region, according to a Southside announcement, surgeons in Bay Shore were able to replace a leaky heart valve without open heart surgery.
The valve recipient was Phil Piazza (pictured) and the successful surgery came as part of a clinical trial of the Abbott’s Tendyne Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement (TMVR) system.
“We are excited to partner with Abbott on this opportunity to offer patients an innovative therapy for severe mitral regurgitation as an alternative to more invasive open heart surgery,” said Dr. Lawrence Ong, chair of cardiology at Southside Hospital and member of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.
A leaky mitral valve results in blood flowing backward and leaking into the heart’s left atrium of when the heart is contracting, leading to heart failure, according to hospital officials.
This life-threatening issue is typically alleviated through open heart surgery to repair or replace the valve. However Abbott’s investigational Tendyne system replaces the leaky valve with a minimally invasive device.
It’s the first such device that can be repositioned and fully retrieved, allowing more precise implantation and helping improve patient outcomes, according to Southside.
This clinical trial, called SUMMIT, is expected to enroll more than 1,000 patients at 80 sites throughout the United States, Canada and Europe to evaluate whether treatment with the Tendyne TMVR system is safe and effective for patients.
Dr. Robert Kalimi, vice chair of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at Southside Hospital and Feinstein Institute member, is the principal investigator leading the team with Dr. Ong as co-investigator.
“It is great to see that our first patient is doing so well after this procedure and was able to avoid having open heart surgery to fix his mitral regurgitation,” Dr. Kalimi said.
The patient was referred to Dr. Kalimi by Northwell Health Cardiologist William Breen, MD.
If you would or a loved one would like to participate in this clinical trial, contact Christina Brennan, MD, vice president of clinical research at Northwell Health, at cbrennan@northwell.edu or 631-968-3016.
Caption: Southside’s Dr. Robert Kalimi and Dr. Lawrence Ong with the first patient in the Northeast to receive the Abbott Tendyne Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement, Phil Piazza.
