The Transcatheter Valve Therapy Clinic was first established at the Montreal Heart Institute in 2010 to offer a service to patients with high risk valvular heart disease. This unique clinic is a joint project between Cardiology and Cardiac surgery and offers patients with aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation the opportunity to be considered for innovative transcatheter valve techniques such as transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and transcatheter mitral leaflet repair with the MitraClip device.
Aortic stenosis is a common condition in older patients and can result in shortness of breath, chest pain, or episodes of loss of consciousness. The standard of care is surgical aortic valve replacement but for those patients at high risk for surgery, transcatheter procedures offer a less invasive method of replacing the aortic valve. At present with over 50,000 implants worldwide, this technology has been demonstrated to be a reasonable option for patients refused for surgery and those at high risk.
Mitral regurgitation is also a common valve abnormality affecting patients as they age and is routine treated with surgical mitral valve replacement. For those patients unable to have surgery for various reasons, transcatheter repair is availble for selected patients using the MitraClip device. The program at the MHI was started in 2010 and is the most-experienced center in
Patients may be referred to the clinic by family physicians, internists, cardiologists or cardiac surgeons. All patients are assessed and following investigations, treatment decisions are made in a multi-disciplinary forum.