New device being tested at Abbott Northwestern Hospital gives hope to patients with leaking heart valve

[Star Tribune, September 06, 2019] Three tricuspid regurgitation (TR) patients at Minneapolis' Abbott Northwestern Hospital quietly jumped to the forefront of a wave of cardiology innovation represented by a class of new "structural heart" devices that optimize blood flow using foldable memory metals and tendril-like catheters thin enough to fit inside blood vessels.

"I had a lot of pain and a lot of shortness of breath. And now that's all kind of gone away," said one patient seven days into a yearlong clinical trial of an unapproved device called the TriClip, designed by Abbott Laboratories in Chicago and implanted by a Minneapolis Heart Institute medical team led by Dr. Paul Sorajja.

Read the full story online at www.startribune.com.