TUPELO, Mississippi—North Mississippi Medical Center’s cardiothoracic surgery team recently performed Mississippi’s first replacement surgery using the MITRIS RESILIA valve, a tissue valve replacement that closely mimics the heart’s own mitral valve.

Mitral valve surgeries fix or replace a leaky or constricted mitral valve between the left heart chambers. Common conditions are mitral valve regurgitation, when the valve’s flaps (leaflets) don't close tightly and allow blood to leak backward, and mitral valve stenosis, when the valve leaflets become narrowed and reduce blood flow. NMMC cardiothoracic surgeons typically perform valve repair and replacement procedures as minimally invasive heart surgery requiring only a small incision.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the MITRIS RESILIA valve manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences on March 31. The valve has a saddle-shaped sewing cuff that mimics the asymmetric shape of the heart’s mitral valve and is designed to perform like it as well, handling the highest pressures in the heart.

“Our goal is always to repair a person’s own mitral valve, but that’s not always possible,” says David Talton, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon with NMMC’s Heart and Vascular Institute. “The reason has been because none of the mitral replacement valves work as well as your heart’s own mitral valve, and they tend to wear out over time. This valve uses anti-calcification technology that will potentially allow the valve to last longer than anything we’ve had in the past.”

NMMC was among the first in line for the new MITRIS RESILIA valve because the hospital and Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi participated in the COMMENCE Trial, a research study on the valve prior to FDA approval. NMMC and Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi enrolled eight patients in the study and followed them for five years.

“Research centers are selected due to recognized national excellence in health care. North Mississippi Medical Center has this distinction in cardiovascular care,” explains Barry Bertolet, M.D., an interventional cardiologist on NMMC’s Heart and Vascular Institute’s medical staff. “Through cardiovascular research studies, our patients have access to the very newest in technology, which continues after FDA approval.”

For more information about the NMMC Heart and Vascular Institute, visit www.nmhs.net/heart-vascular or call 1-800-THE DESK (1-800-843-3375).