MR reduction after TMVR with the FORTIS valve maintained at 2 years

The first report to address long-term outcomes for patients with severe native mitral regurgitation (MR) who are treated with transcatheter mitral valve replacement has found that post-procedural reductions in MR held up over time, with no significant recurrence upon two-year follow-up.

“Of note, most patients who survived the periprocedural period improved their functional status and had no rehospitalizations due to heart failure within the 2 years following the intervention,” wrote the researchers, led by Ander Regueiro, with the department of cardiology at Quebec Heart & Lung Institute at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada. 

The study was published online Aug. 21 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“That functional status improvement persisted at two-year follow-up with all patients but one in New York Heart Association functional class <II,” the authors wrote. Furthermore, the researchers observed no cases that involved device migration, remobilization or the need for reintervention. 

The study cohort comprised 13 patients (71 + 8 years, 77 percent male), all of whom had severe symptomatic MR of functional or mixed origin. The researchers obtain two-year follow up data on all 13.

During the two-year follow-up period, the researchers found no significant recurrences of MR, nor did they observe structural failures of the prosthesis or episodes of late thrombosis.

They pointed out that the positive results were limited to half of the initial cohort, because about half of the patients had died within the two-year follow up interval.

“Larger and even longer-term follow-up studies with currently available devices are warranted,” the authors wrote.