Minimally invasive procedure led by Dr. Matt Cavender and Dr. John Vavalle expands options for patients with complex mitral valve disease.
UNC Health cardiologists have performed North Carolina’s first commercial fully percutaneous transcatheter mitral valve replacement, or TMVR. The procedure is a way to replace a worn out or leaky heart valve through a catheter, or thin tube, rather than through open-heart surgery.
The TMVR was performed at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill by interventional cardiologists Matthew Cavender, MD, MPH, FACC, and John Vavalle, MD, MHS, medical director of the UNC Structural Heart Disease Program.
“Individuals with mitral valve disease typically have significant symptoms, including shortness of breath, swelling in the legs, difficulty breathing at night, and difficulty doing many of the things that they enjoy on a day-to-day basis,” said Cavender.
Valvular heart disease is becoming more common as the population ages, and millions of Americans have moderate to clinically significant valve disease. TMVR now offers another choice for patients who are not candidates for surgery or who still have symptoms after other treatments.
“The multidisciplinary expertise, combined with UNC Health’s ability to connect patients across North Carolina with specialized care in Chapel Hill, helped position UNC to be the first center in the state to offer the procedure commercially,” said Vavalle.
Learn more about TMVR and UNC Health’s heart valve team at this link.
Media contact: Nancy Bostrom, Manager, Research & National News, UNC Health | UNC School of Medicine