Percutaneous mitral valve repair: lessons from the EVEREST II (Endovascular Valve Edge-to-Edge REpair Study) and beyond.

The 24-month results of the EVEREST II (Endovascular Valve Edge-to-Edge REpair Study), presented at the American College of Cardiology 2011 Scientific Sessions/i2 Summit and recently published (1), investigating the safety and efficacy of the MitraClip (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California) device, validated the interest in percutaneous approaches to the treatment of mitral regurgitation (MR) compared with the current gold standard, which is surgical mitral valve repair or replacement (2). The MitraClip is a percutaneously inserted device that mimics the surgical edge-to-edge repair developed by Dr. Ottavio Alfieri in 1991, by attaching to the tips of the anterior and posterior mitral leaflets, securing them together to form a double-orifice mitral inlet, and thereby reducing the amount of regurgitation (3).