Mitral Valve

More than 40,000 mitral valve surgeries are performed each year in the US alone. The mitral valve apparatus is one of the most complex cardiac structures, operating under the highest pressures of all four valves in the heart.  Repair is uniformly favored over replacement in almost all mitral valve pathologies requiring surgical intervention. However, this advantage is contingent upon competent procedures and devices, which is of paramount significance to long term success. Increasing repair durability requires diligent restoration and support of the valve, re-establishing the natural biomechanics.

This project focuses on developing procedures to enhance mitral valve repair procedures and devices as well as replacement devices and techniques from a rational standpoint to support the on-going improvement efforts. Part of this work has already been adopted internationally by industry for mitral valve repair devices, which can ultimately improve the lives of people with mitral valve deficiencies.

Clinical collaborators (listed alphabetically by last name):
Dr. Robert A. Levine, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Dr. Derlis Martino, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Baptist Health, and Arkansas Heart Hospital, Little Rock, AR
Dr. Sten Lyager Nielsen, MD, PhD, DrMed, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

Research collaborators (listed alphabetically by last name):
Dr. Serguei Liachenko, FDA National Center for Toxicology Research, Jefferson, AR
Dr. Mark Ratcliffe, MD, School of Medicine, University of California, San Fransisco, CA
Dr. Michael Sacks, PhD, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Dr. Jonathan F. Wenk, PhD, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Dr. Ajit P. Yoganathan, PhD, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia