Rodrigo Estévez-Loureiro

By Tomás Benito-González, Rodrigo Estévez-Loureiro, Javier Gualis Cardona, Armando Pérez de Prado, Mario Castaño Ruiz and Felipe Fernández-Vázquez

Heart failure has become a real epidemic condition related to poor outcomes despite advances in medical therapies. Prevalence of significant mitral and/or tricuspid regurgitation is high in patients with advanced heart failure. Novel transcatheter techniques have recently emerged as a minimally invasive alternative in patients deemed high-risk for surgery or inoperable. Among them, MitraClip® system is thus far the first device that received regulatory approval and gained widespread clinical application, especially in patients with functional mitral regurgitation. Furthermore, first experiences with new devices for percutaneous mitral and tricuspid valves repair, and transcatheter mitral valve prosthesis have been increasingly reported. Percutaneous therapies for valvular heart disease have therefore become one of the most promising fields in the present and future of interventional cardiology and heart failure.

Part of the book: Interventional Cardiology

By Carlos Minguito-Carazo, Tomás Benito-González, Rodrigo Estévez-Loureiro, Carmen Garrote-Coloma, Julio Echarte-Morales, Armando Pérez de Prado and Felipe Fernández-Vázquez

Tricuspid valve regurgitation is one of the most common valvular disorders and moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation is consistently associated to an increased morbidity and mortality. From an etiopathological perspective, tricuspid regurgitation can be classified in primary, due to the organic disease of any of the valve components, or secondary, as a result of tricuspid valve annulus dilatation, adverse right ventricular remodeling and tricuspid valve leaflet tethering. Despite its poor prognosis, most patients with tricuspid insufficiency are managed conservatively and only those with concomitant left heart valvular disease do finally go surgery in the real-world setting. In fact, outcomes of conventional surgery in patients with isolated tricuspid regurgitation are poor and this approach has not proven yet any survival benefit over stand-alone medical therapy. Given this unmet need, new transcatheter techniques have been developed in the last years, including leaflet plication, percutaneous annuloplasty and valve implantation in either the tricuspid position (orthotopic implantation) or in a different position such as the vena cava (heterotopic implantation). These techniques, with promising outcomes, are seen as an interesting alternative to open-heart surgery given the much lower periprocedural risk.

Part of the book: Interventional Treatment for Structural Heart Disease