The mitral valve is the valve between the left atrium and the left ventricle. It consists of two leaflets and prevents blood from flowing back into the atrium when the ventricle pumps blood into the body. Tendon threads ensure that the leaflets do not "break through" into the atrium.
If these chordae tendineae are elongated due to disease, the valve becomes leaky. This is known as "primary mitral valve insufficiency", the most common disease of the mitral valve.
The mitral valve can be resealed by replacing the "worn out" chordae tendineae with synthetic fibers. This procedure can be performed at the DHZB in a minimally invasive way, i.e. through incisions only a few centimeters long. However, the heart must be stopped and the circulation maintained with a heart-lung machine.
A patient in whom this operation could not be performed due to pre-existing and concomitant illnesses has now been treated for the first time at the DHZ using the new "Harpoon" system from the USA, which enables the replacement of the chordal cords on the beating heart.
Through a small incision in the chest, a tube just a few millimeters thick is guided through the left ventricle directly to the leaflets of the mitral valve. Through this "harpoon", the replacement holding threads are "shot" through the valve leaflets and fixed to the leaflets using special loops. The procedure can be repeated several times.
The surgeon then pulls the "harpoon" out of the heart again - the sutures are tightened and attached to the outside of the heart muscle, and the puncture site on the heart is sutured. The entire procedure is performed under precise ultrasound control: using an ultrasound probe that is guided through the esophagus and close to the heart.
Source: German Heart Center Berlin (DHZB)
