Vim & Vigor - Spring 2020 - UVA - 5

Facts About
Heart Valves

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The heart has four valves: mitral,
aortic, tricuspid and pulmonary.

HEART PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

ver the past decade, UVA Advanced Cardiac
Valve Clinic has been leading the way in
perfecting less-invasive ways to fix faulty
valves-an increasingly common problem
among our aging population.
"We are doing the absolute newest procedures for
less-invasive transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement. We have a deep skill set, so from a patient standpoint, we offer a seamless journey for personalized care,"
says Scott Lim, MD, a pioneering interventional cardiologist and medical director of UVA Advanced Cardiac
Valve Clinic, part of UVA Heart and Vascular Center.
The transcatheter approach Dr. Lim describes is
done by inserting a narrow tube in a blood vessel
and guiding a device to the heart, without having to
open the chest.
Running a heart valve clinic requires extensive
support, notes Gorav Ailawadi, MD, chief of cardiac
surgery at UVA and surgical director of UVA Advanced
Cardiac Valve Clinic. "Many of our patients are older
and typically have other health issues, so we've developed strong ties with other types of UVA physicians,"
he says. "We work closely with liver and kidney disease
specialists, as these organs can be damaged by heart
disease. It really takes a whole group of specialists
beyond those who just deal with valves and the heart.
And Marissa Donatelle, our valve clinic coordinator,
does a lot to make sure our patients get specialized care
and any tests needed as efficiently as possible." *

Heart Valve Experts
UVA Advanced Cardiac Valve Clinic is one of a few
places in the U.S. that offers a full range of transcatheter
and minimally invasive procedures for heart valve
conditions, such as cardiac valve disease of the aortic,
mitral and pulmonary heart valves. Learn more at
uvahealth.com/valve.

The most common valves to wear out
are aortic and mitral valves, which are
subject to higher pressure.

UVA pioneered a transcatheter
approach for aortic and mitral valve
repair and replacement. Once reserved
for patients considered too high risk for
open-heart surgery, the transcatheter
approach is now available to lower-risk
patients.

UVA is leading the way in bringing
less-invasive treatments for the
tricuspid valve (opening between the
heart's two right-side chambers) and
bicuspid aortic valve disease (for people
born with two flaps instead of three in
the aortic valve).

Experts have perfected fixing a faulty
aortic valve, but fixing the larger
and more complex mitral valve is still
being improved, so clinical trials are key,
explains UVA's Gorav Ailawadi, MD, who
is the national principal investigator
for a clinical trial testing a mitral valve
replacement.

UVA's Scott Lim, MD, is the national
principal investigator for a clinical
trial testing a new mitral valve clipping
device.

UVA can have as many as three
clinical trials open for tricuspid
valve disease and three trials open
for mitral valve disease.

Within days of a heart valve transcatheter procedure, most patients
are free from shortness of breath, fatigue
or chest pain and can enjoy higherintensity daily activity without those
symptoms, Dr. Lim notes.

VIM & VIGOR SPRING 2020

https://uvahealth.com/services/heart-valve-disease

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2020 - UVA

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