Percutaneous suture edge-to-edge repair of the mitral valve.

AIMS: To describe a new approach to percutaneous mitral valve repair and an illustrative first-in-man experience, we introduce a suture mediated "double orifice", "edge-to-edge" procedure which can be an effective surgical therapy for mitral regurgitation (MR) in selected patient.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We describe a novel percutaneous approach to double orifice mitral repair utilising an intra-cardiac suture based system. The procedure was performed in 15 patients in four international centres. Endovascular suture based double orifice mitral repair was feasible with an acute reduction in the severity of MR by > or = 1 grade in nine of 15 patients. At 30 days improvement in MR appeared durable in six patients. Clinical utility was limited by technical difficulties, the inadequacies of current imaging modalities and suture dehiscence.

CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous endovascular suture based cardiac repair is feasible. However, in utilising the current device clinical benefit was limited and the repair not durable. In the future, similar endovascular approaches may enable more complex cardiac repair.