Recent Innovations in Cardiovascular Medicine

​HRX 2025 has been scheduled for September 4-6 at Signia by Hilton Atlanta in Georgia. Other upcoming meetings are the American Heart Association AHA Scientific Sessions in November 2025 in New Orleans. As in years past, the conference will bring together global leaders and innovators committed to defining future generations of healthcare. Recent innovations in the field of cardiovascular medicine have included aortic valve replacements, protein inhibitors, and mitral valve clips.

The aortic valve is a critical component of cardiovascular health. Located directly adjacent to the left ventricle, the valve prevents blood from flowing in the wrong direction between the ventricle and the aorta. Without a properly functioning aortic valve, blood can leak back into the left ventricle, leading to various health complications.

Aortic valve stenosis (AVS) is a particularly damaging condition that occurs when the aortic valve narrows, preventing an adequate flow of blood. Up to 300,000 Americans receive AVS diagnoses each year, per the Frankel Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan Health. In the past, severe cases of AVS demanded open heart surgery, allowing surgeons to repair or replace the valve. Unfortunately, AVS typically impacts older patients who are not good candidates for such intensive, complex procedures.

More recently, healthcare innovators have developed the process of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as a minimally invasive alternative to surgical intervention for AVS. The procedure requires physicians to make a single small incision by the groin or chest, use the incision to place a catheter into an artery, and harness medical imaging technology to guide a replacement valve through the artery to the damaged aortic valve.

In addition to the procedure itself, TAVR often replaces damaged aortic valves with replacement valves constructed from heart tissue harvested from cows or pigs. Studies have indicated that TAVR is not only a comparable alternative for high-risk patients but, at times, a superior treatment plan for low-risk patients living with advanced AVS.

Another recent advance in the field of cardiovascular health and medicine involves a class of drugs designed to inhibit the SGLT2 protein. These inhibitors were initially developed to reduce blood sugar levels in patients living with type 2 diabetes. The inhibition of the SGLT2 protein reduces the body's ability to reabsorb glucose into the kidneys.

While SGLT2 inhibitor drugs proved effective for type 2 diabetes patients, the drugs demonstrated the ability to help even more people, namely those at risk for heart failure or kidney disease caused by high blood pressure. In addition to decreasing blood pressure levels, SGLT2 inhibitors further reduce the heart's workload by lowering plasma volume and limiting activity throughout the sympathetic nervous system. 

The results of a series of trials were published in The Lancet in 2022, finding the SGLT2 inhibitors "significantly reduce the risk of mortality," particularly when integrated into traditional heart failure therapy. Three inhibitors have received Food and Drug Administration approval to reduce the risk of heart failure.

Finally, MitraClip functions as a less invasive alternative to open-heart surgery for mitral regurgitation, a condition impacting nearly two percent of all Americans and over nine percent of Americans over the age of 75. Mitral regurgitation occurs when the mitral valve does not fully close, allowing blood to flow back into the heart. Symptoms of the condition range from shortness of breath to loss of consciousness; more severe cases can lead to atrial fibrillation and heart failure.

Similar to the TAVR procedure, MitraClip involves doctors guiding a catheter through a vein to the patient's heart, at which point the catheter is used to install a small clip that helps the valve close more securely. The surgery can be completed in as little as 60 minutes and has proven to be both safe and effective for patients.

Sanjiv Narayan

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