Transcatheter Clip for Heart Failure with Mitral Regurgitation

Patients with heart failure and clinically significant secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) have poor prognoses, but the 2018 COAPT trial suggests that device therapy might improve those odds. North American investigators randomized 614 symptomatic heart-failure patients with at least moderate–to-severe functional MR (despite standard medical therapy) to receive either continued medical therapy alone or medical therapy plus a transcatheter clip device (i.e., MitraClip, which directly reduces the severity of MR). Participants were deemed not to be candidates for mitral valve surgery and to have anatomy suitable for device placement. Hospitalizations for heart failure were significantly lower in the device group (36% vs. 68% per patient-year),…