Pioneering heart surgery has been carried out on a former chef that is set to change his life. The complex heart operation has been performed in few hospitals around the UK but was carried out for the first time at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW).
Seton Spencer, 69, had mitral annular calcification (MAC), reports CoventryLive - a condition where the mitral valve inside the heart becomes leaky and narrowed due to calcium deposits around the edge of the valve. This prevents the organ from functioning properly.
When the calcium deposits surround the valve completely, this condition is often considered inoperable with standard open heart surgery due to the difficulty in placing sutures through the hard calcium when inserting a new mitral valve prosthesis (artificial heart valve).
The UHCW Heart Valve team successfully completed a hybrid left atrial open access transcatheter mitral valve implantation on Mr Spencer. He underwent this novel approach of transcatheter mitral valve implantation due to recurrent hospital admissions with heart failure.
"We are very pleased with the results and hopefully this approach will be able to help other patients who are otherwise inoperable with standard techniques," said Cardiac Surgeon Tom Barker.
The procedure was made possible thanks to a massive medical team of that included cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists, cardiac imaging specialists, intensive care physicians, nurses, theatre staff, perfusionists and physiotherapists.
Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Nishant Gangil, added: "We are delighted to offer cutting-edge treatment to patients through excellent team work and a collaborative approach.
"We have been performing percutaneous transcatheter mitral valve implantations since April 2021 but this case required a hybrid approach of cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists because of the extremely difficult cardiac anatomy. We wish Mr Spencer all the best for his future endeavours."
