Study: Mini clip is safer than heart-valve surgery

ATLANTA — Many Americans with leaky heart valves soon might be able to get them fixed without open-heart surgery. A study, the results of which were released Sunday at an American College of Cardiology conference, showed a tiny clip implanted through an artery was safer and nearly as effective as surgery.

The device is already on sale in Europe, and its maker, Abbott Laboratories, hopes to win approval to sell it in the United States next year.

About 8 million people in the United States and Europe have leaky mitral valves — the valve between the heart's left upper and lower chambers. Not all are so bad they need treatment, but the worst cases can lead to heart failure over time.

In the study of 184 people sponsored by Evalve Inc., which developed the device, six times more people who had surgery had complications during the next month than those who got Abbott's MitraClip. Deaths, strokes and blood transfusions were less common with the device. The clip was not dramatically less effective than surgery after one year.

MitraClip is only for the mitral valve. Other devices for other heart valves are in late-stage testing, and many doctors believe they will soon transform how these conditions are treated.