The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
New heart procedure available at WCHN
It may have been Bernard Trudel’s 93rd birthday when he underwent a heart procedure at Danbury Hospital several months ago, but the U.S. Navy veteran said he woke up feeling more like he was “17 again.”
“I felt like a new man,” Trudel said. “I came out (ready to) go dancing, go to the beach — all those good things.”
Trudel, who had become suddenly bed-bound with congestive heart failure before the procedure, was able to leave the hospital just a few days later. A team of heart surgeons had fixed what’s known as mitral valve regurgitation (MR) in his heart, which is caused by a leaking heart valve.
But Trudel’s situation could have turned out completely differently, doctors said, had it not been for the new, minimally invasive procedure they were able to use. Trudel was one of the first patients to undergo the new procedure, known as MitraClip, since it was recently added to Western Connecticut Health Network’s structural heart program.
The new method offers an alternative for patients like Trudel who have MR but are too high-risk to undergo open-heart surgery, said Dr. Mark Warshofsky, one of Trudel’s doctors.
“Mr. Trudel is such a vibrant 93-year-old, so we all felt strongly to try and offer him something to get better,” said Warshofsky, who is medical director of cardiovascular services for WCHN. “He probably would’ve been deemed at a very high risk or prohibitive risk, given his age and because he had recently been in the hospital for a fractured hip.”
Instead of traditional open-heart surgery, the MitraClip lets doctors use a steering catheter through a vein in the patient’s leg to enter the left chamber of the heart and access the mitral valve.
The valve lets blood flow from the upper left chamber to the lower left chamber of the heart, but when it does not close properly blood flows back into the upper chamber.
The MitraClip is implanted to bring together the “leaflets” of the valve and stop, or at least significantly cut down on, the leaking of blood.
Warshofsky, who performed Trudel’s procedure with Dr. Hal Wasserman, said using the MitraClip cuts down on recovery time, too.
”(Open-heart surgery) patients could potentially be in the hospital for a couple weeks recovering, and then go to a skilled nursing facility to receive more recovery,” Warshofsky said. “With this procedure, the patient can go home the next day.”
Trudel, who lives in Southbury, told doctors after his procedure that he had even more energy than before his diagnosis with MR. He hopes sharing his story can help let other people know the option is available.
”I was excited to have the new procedure and do my part to advance the treatment for MR,” Trudel said. “This MitraClip is a miracle .”