The treatment guidelines for valvular heart disease indicate that surgical correction of primary mitral valve regurgitation (MR) is a Class I recommendation. Further, recent evidence indicates that valve replacement is at least as effective as repair in both primary and secondary MR patients. However, many patients are not referred for surgery as they are considered to be too high of a risk to undergo on pump, open-heart procedures. Percutaneous aortic valve replacement has made treatment of stenosed aortic valves available to high-risk surgical patients who would have otherwise been medically managed. Percutaneous mitral valve (MV) replacement offers similar advantages. Currently, the only approved percutaneous treatment for MR is MitraClip. MitraClip is limited to a specific population of high risk surgical patients with valvular prolapses that are amenable to repair by the edge to edge technique. The feasibility of percutaneous MV replacement has been shown in animal studies, the implantation of aortic valves at the mitral position, and early evaluations of purpose made transcatheter MVs in humans. To meet this medical need, Caisson Interventional has developed a percutaneous delivery system for a bioprosthetic mitral valve. As with patients with aortic valve (AV) deficiencies, this device can be used to provide needed therapy to patients who might not otherwise receive treatment beyond medical therapy. This study will provide initial information on the safety and performance of this system.
