Surgery for certain bad heart valves may soon become a thing of the past. In the other study, 1,400 patients were given surgery or a Medtronic expandable valve. In the Medtronic study, 17 per cent of expandable valve recipients later required a pacemaker versus 6 per cent of people who had surgery. He and other doctors say the expandable valves still need longer study to see if they hold up as well as surgical ones. Catheter-based approaches for problems with some other heart valves, such as the mitral valve, also have been developed or are in testing.

Source: National Post March 16, 2019 17:37 UTC