A new beat on life
August 1, 2024
Twelve years ago, Leo Wilson, a Central Valley native and well-known home builder and developer, started experiencing fatigue and would wake up gasping for air at night. Over the years, it got to the point where he could hardly move.
In 2023, Leo’s wife felt something was wrong and called for an ambulance. He was taken to Saint Agnes Medical Center’s Emergency Department where doctors discovered he was suffering from heart failure and needed emergency surgery.
“I came in and went straight up to the floor and then they started putting stints in my mitral valves,” Leo says.
He was suffering from mitral valve regurgitation – a condition in which the mitral valve does not close properly. In a healthy heart, blood moves from the heart to the body and then back to the heart. For patients with mitral regurgitation, the mitral valve, which acts as the door between the body and heart, does not function properly, disrupting the blood cycle.
“The valve changes its geometry, so the two doors of the valve don’t come together,” says Fresno-area Cardiologist Usman Javed, MD. “Blood goes into the left upper chamber of the heart, which is the wrong chamber. This causes the individual to start experiencing shortness of breath."
Some patients are unaware of their severe mitral regurgitation and will experience mild symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath. Without proper treatment, the leak can cause the heart muscle to weaken, which in turn worsens the valve leak.
An innovative repair
Luckily, there is a noninvasive way to treat this condition, thanks to an innovative procedure called MitraClip™.
“Over the past ten years, MitraClip™ has evolved and has gone through four iterations. What we saw was that 98 percent of the procedures are done successfully,” says Dr. Javed. “This becomes an option to help patients improve symptoms, quality of life and decrease hospitalizations.”
Instead of open-heart surgery, patients undergo anesthesia and a catheter is placed in a small hole in the groin then routed through to the right side of the heart where the mitral valve is located. The medical team then securely places the MitraClip™ device to reduce regurgitation.
Back and better than ever
Three days after surgery, Leo was walking and able to return home to continue his recovery. Two months after his procedure, he was able to start attending Saint Agnes’ Cardiac Rehabilitation and Lifestyle Program. He quickly began to feel like himself again.
“Still, at 87 years old, I go into the office five hours a day, five days a week. Sometimes they wish I’d come about two hours a day,” says Leo, laughing.
“All of this happened at Saint Agnes, and I was well taken care of. They took care of me fast. I didn’t have to wait a long time, and it was great,” Leo says. “People better take advantage of this program. If you feel risky, you feel like you can’t breathe, or anything else, get to Saint Agnes.”
Are you a candidate?
If you are experiencing any symptom of mitral regurgitation, talk to your cardiologist to discuss possible treatments. To learn more about MitraClip™, contact our Structural Heart Program Coordinator at (559) 450-4208.