Lee Health saving mitral heart valves

Every year, almost 200,000 Americans undergo a heart valve replacement. At Lee Health, doctors hope to avoid that by fixing the valve, if possible. The health system is carving out a niche in mitral valve repair.

Within Lee Health’s Shipley Cardiothoracic Center, doctors are pouring in time and resources, turning the center into a destination for complex care.

“We have an extremely high percentage of mitral valve repair versus replacement for patients who have a valve that is amenable to that, approaching 100%,” Dr. Paul DiGiorigi, Cardiothoracic Surgeon with Lee Health

DiGiorigi told WINK News health and medical reporter Amy Oshier that only a handful of centers in the country can make that claim. The mitral valve maintains blood flow between the left chambers of the heart. If the valve doesn’t close properly, blood can flow backward. If it’s too stiff, flow is reduced. Either issue needs addressing.

“Essentially, all valve repairs of the mitral valve involve bringing that mitral annulus to the doorframe back down to a more normal size,” DiGiorgi said. “And then the second most common thing that we do is repair the leaflets of that valve.”

Heart valves undergo a lot of wear and tear over the course of a lifetime. A lot of Americans will have their mitral valve replaced. Studies suggest patients who have a repair do better than people who have a replacement.

“Part of it is because the valve repair preserves the natural anatomy of the valve and the heart muscle which with it is attached to so that is a more physiologic type of environment for the heart to work. And so it retains its strength better and, importantly, retains its efficiency at beating better than with a replacement,” said DiGiorgi.

The team at Lee Health is continuing to fine-tune their procedures, putting the program on the map.

“From a surgical standpoint, we are advancing our mitral valve program so that we will become officially a comprehensive valve program nationally,” DiGiorgi said.

Some valve issues make them beyond repair, so a replacement is the best option. There are also new approaches and procedures that make valve replacements more successful than ever before.