GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - Heart failure affects nearly 6 million Americans, but a new study on a tiny medical device is giving patients and their families hope.
Cardiologist Dr. Paul Sorajja with the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern participated in the study, and he joined KARE 11 News at 4 to talk about the study’s findings.
Almost 40 percent of the 6 million Americans with heart failure have some form of mitral regurgitation (MR). The MitraClip device reduced deaths from heart failure by 40 percent, and hospitalizations for patients with MR were nearly cut in half.
The FDA has approved the MitraClip for people with primary MR, but not yet for secondary MR.