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Mitral Valve Leakage, The MitraClip and Life Without Open-Heart Surgery (podcast)
Is the MitraClip device right for you and your heart?

Dr. Matthew Price, Interventional Cardiologist, Scripps Clinic
Is the MitraClip device right for you and your heart?
The heart is a complex organ with many different parts, one being the mitral valve, which controls the blood flow in the left side of the heart. The mitral valve separates the left atrium, which fills with blood from the lungs, and the left ventricle, the major pumping chamber that pushes blood to the aorta. But what happens when that crucial valve leaks? Previously, doctors' only recourse was open-heart surgery, but that wasn’t an option for some patients who were too ill or too frail. Enter the MitraClip, a device that holds the valve’s two leaflets together and can be inserted without open-heart surgery.
In this episode of San Diego Health, host Susan Taylor and guest Matthew Price, MD, an interventional cardiologist at Scripps Clinic who has implanted more MitraClips than any other doctor in San Diego and was involved the clinical trials that led to FDA approval, discuss the MitraClip, what the procedure entails and what the recovery process looks like.
A leaky mitral valve, which can be caused by age-related degeneration, allows blood to travel back toward the lungs instead of forward to your brain and muscles. A severe leak can lead to a slew of symptoms ranging from fatigue and shortness of breath to an enlarged heart and eventually congestive heart failure. The MitraClip restores valve function without open-heart surgery. It’s inserted via catheter and patients can usually go home the next day. The end result is a patient whose heart is getting stronger. The ultimate goal is to restore that patient’s quality of life.
Listen to the episode on MitraClips
Listen to the episode on MitraClips
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