University of Iowa Health Care recently debuted a new, minimally invasive heart valve procedure after years of research and months of work toward approval by the Federal Drug Administration. A second procedure will become available later this year. 

The two procedures are offered to patients with tricuspid valve regurgitation, which causes blood to flow backward through the heart’s right chamber due to an improperly closing valve, according to a release by UIHC. 

The release said some people are born with the condition, but others can develop it later in life. At that point, later in life, the condition is likely caused by infection or other underlying health issues. 

The first procedure — tricuspid valve repair — is a minimally invasive procedure that uses a catheter to guide small clips onto the valve to repair it and reduce the flow, according to the release. 

The second procedure will be available later this year and is a more invasive valve replacement surgery in which surgeons replace the existing valve with a new one. 

The release said these procedures are ideal alternatives to invasive heart surgeries for patients with already weakened physical health and also act as a substitute for daily medications prescribed to the weakened population. 

Mohammad Bashir, UIHC cardiothoracic surgeon and structural heart disease program surgical director, said the recovery time is almost nonexistent for patients undergoing catheter treatment. 

Bashir said patients have reported substantial improvements in their health following the procedure, even though it is not as direct as open-heart surgery. 

He said individuals with tricuspid valve regurgitation often experience congestion, as the heart acts inefficiently because of the backflow. Patients accumulate fluid in the legs and other extremities, impacting mobility. 

Blisters and shortness of breath are other symptoms that generally reduce a patient’s quality of life, he said. 

He said the technology and procedure itself can be costly, like most new health care technologies. However, he said the benefits are greater than the risks. 

“If somebody can benefit from it [surgery], and the benefit of the surgery outweighs the risks, that is the pathway they should go for,” he said.

Eventually, similar to new technologies, the price will go down, he said. 

“Hopefully, costs will come down with time. It’s expensive, and we’ve yet to see its effects on the health care system,” Bashir said. 

He said cost is one of many factors that will be improved with time. Data is an important element of how these procedures will impact patient health going forward, and data needs time to be collected. 

Phillip Horwitz, interventional cardiologist and executive director of UIHC Heart and Vascular Center, said these procedures are necessary to treat patients who cannot have invasive surgeries. 

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“Open-heart surgery is a big operation,” Horwitz said. “It puts a lot of stress on a patient. There are just many people who are not good candidates for that.” 

Horwitz also said 5 percent of Americans will get tricuspid valve regurgitation at some point in their life. 

He said older individuals or those with preexisting health conditions are typically unable to receive invasive treatment. These new procedures and the research behind them seek to include a larger population of patients.

Horwitz said the procedures’ research trials and their current uses post-FDA approval have shown success. However, he said it is too soon to tell how the procedure, being less invasive, matches the longevity of more intense open-heart surgeries. 

There are too many disparities between patient populations who choose which surgeries, meaning older individuals with existing conditions opt for less-invasive procedures while younger patients have more invasive procedures. These facts make it difficult to compare the two categories of procedures against one another, he said.

However, Horwitz said the catheter procedure is nevertheless effective so far. 

“We know that people recover a lot faster, and it allows a larger group of patients access to a treatment because many of these people went untreated before,” he said. 

Overall, he said the number of tricuspid valve regurgitation patients who can receive necessary treatment has doubled thanks to these new procedures. 

“Many more people who are sicker, older, or less mobile are able to get life-saving therapy,” Horwitz said.