Valve Repair & Replacement
When heart valves aren’t working properly, they can be repaired or replaced with an artificial or prosthetic valve.
At El Camino Health, we offer some of the latest, minimally invasive techniques to treat heart valve conditions. Our team approach to care includes interventional cardiologists, vascular specialists, echocardiographers, specialized nurses and other clinicians who evaluate your condition and develop an individualized treatment plan.
Because specialists at El Camino Health participate in clinical research, we’re able to bring you some of the latest minimally invasive approaches to treat heart valve conditions, including advanced MitraClip® and CoreValve® technologies. Our cardiovascular specialists were among the researchers who introduced these new treatments through clinical trials.
These advanced techniques provide an alternative to open-heart surgery. To perform the procedure, your doctor uses a catheter fitted with the device through an incision in your upper thigh or chest area. The catheter is threaded through the artery and into your heart where your doctor can position the device to repair the affected valve.
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (CoreValve)
CoreValve offers a minimally invasive treatment for people with severe aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the valve opening that restricts blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Made from natural tissue obtained from the heart of a pig, CoreValve controls blood flow through a flexible, self-expanding frame that’s secured in place.
El Camino Health was selected as one of 40 hospitals during the original research on the device, which is now commercially available for the treatment for aortic stenosis.
Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair (MitraClip)
For people with mitral valve disease (also called mitral valve regurgitation) — a condition in which the heart valve doesn’t close properly — the standard method of treatment is open-heart surgery. However, this invasive surgery isn’t feasible for all patients. MitraClip offers a treatment option for people who have severe symptoms and who are at too great a risk to have traditional surgery. In fact, MitraClip is the only alternative to open surgery that’s approved by the FDA. El Camino Health was one of early investigational sites for the device.
