Severe tricuspid regurgitation: Transcatheter repair ‘improves outcomes’

But patients need to be treated in specialist centres, researchers say
Reuters Health

Transcatheter edge-to-edge tricuspid valve repair (TTVR) is associated with reductions in hospitalisations for heart failure and in postprocedural tricuspid regurgitation severity, an observational study suggests.

German researchers studied 119 patients (mean age 76, 53% women) who underwent TTVR between 2015 and 2018 in compassionate use programs at four academic centres. All were deemed at “prohibitive” surgical risk.

Most (93%) received the MitraClip and the rest, the PASCAL device. Results were compared with 114 patients who underwent combined transcatheter mitral and tricuspid valve repair.

As reported in JACC: Heart Failure, 82% of patients achieved procedural success with TTVR, with a reduction to moderate or less tricuspid regurgitation and no in-hospital deaths.