Open heart surgery is a life-saving yet invasive procedure that carries significant risk.

Heart patients who can’t undergo surgery due to kidney or lung problems or a prior stroke run a high risk of heart failure.

Fortunately, an Israeli startup has developed a method of repairing valves without the need for open heart surgery.

Innovalve, developed at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center by Prof. Ehud Ra’anani and Dr. Boris Orlov, focuses on alternative ways to replace the mitral valve through a minimally invasive procedure.

The revolutionary treatment may one day replace open heart surgery as the primary means of replacing or repairing heart valves.

Edward’s Life Sciences has announced it is buying Innovalve Bio-Medical for $300 million, but it will retain its current staff and location in Israel.

The solution is intended to treat patients with mitral regurgitation, which occurs when the mitral valves do not close properly, causing the blood to flow backward toward the heart.

This is the most common form of heart valve disease and usually requires surgery to correct–until now.

Innovalve’s procedure replaces the damaged mitral valve through catheterization instead of invasive surgery.

The development of the solution began in 2018 and was completed in 2021 when FDA trials were performed.

Since then, there have been 40 implantations performed in US hospitals.

Prof. Ra’anani spoke to Ynet about the development of this revolutionary approach to repairing heart valves.

“Many patients suffer from mitral valve leakage and can’t undergo open-heart surgery. As a result, they enter heart failure, which severely impacts their quality of life and life expectancy, and many die,” he said

“We’re talking about millions of such individuals in the Western world, in the U.S., and Europe, who lack a viable solution for this valve,” he continued.

“Our technology allows us to reach this difficult spot in the heart, and more importantly, to securely anchor the valve while the heart is beating, as the entire procedure is performed on a beating heart. We enter through the groin and guide the valve to its location,” Ra’anani concluded.

Image - Nati Shohat/Flash90