Valve Surgery Research

Highlights

• The Duke Valve Surgery Database informs outcomes research with data from more than 11,000 patients.
• Duke has the world’s largest amount of published research in mitral re-operations via minithoracotomy.
• Donald D. Glower, MD is a principal investigator of REALISM, a trial investigating percutaneous mitral repair using the Abbott MitraClip. Under way at Duke since 2006, the study has evolved from a randomized surgical-comparison trial to a continued-access registry. Duke is one of only 40 North American sites with access to MitraClip.
• Peter K. Smith, MD is a principal investigator on a trial comparing the effectiveness of a mitral valve procedure in combination with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) versus CABG alone in people with moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation.

Percutaneous Pulmonary Valve Replacement Research

Duke is on the forefront of innovations in percutaneous pulmonary valve replacement

• Duke is one of only three U.S. centers participating in the COMPASSION trial -- implanting the Edwards SAPIEN valve in the pulmonary valve position -- for which phase 2 enrollment will soon begin.
• Duke is also among the few centers implanting the Medtronic Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve, an FDA-approved Humanitarian Use Device.
• Duke is currently the nation's only center with access to both those valves.
• Duke will soon enroll patients in a pioneering transcatheter valve trial that will potentially provide a percutaneous option for high-risk patients with aortic stenosis.