‘I got my life back’: Hamilton Health Sciences pioneers new heart valve treatment in Canada

Walking to the end of the driveway had become a difficult chore for Oakville's Dave Whatmore.

The retired 79-year-old banker suffered from a leaking heart valve that was slowly robbing him of his life.

Just walking around my yard, often times I'd be puffing," said Whatmore.

All that changed two weeks ago when Whatmore became the first Canadian patient to receive an experimental heart valve treatment at Hamilton Health Sciences as part of an international clinical trial.

The improvement in his health was immediate. Within days, Whatmore walked over to a neighbour's house for a visit.

I just feel 100 per cent better," Whatmore said. In fact, those who know me tell me they can hear it in my voice.

I got my life back," he added.

Whatmore's problem was a leaky tricuspid valve, which regulates the flow of blood between the two chambers on the right side of the heart.

The tricuspid valve is often called the forgotten valve," said Dr. Shamir Mehta, a cardiologist at HHS who is leading the Hamilton portion of the clinical trial.

Effective treatments exist to repair and replace the other heart valves, Mehta said, but the one valve we haven't made much progress on is the tricuspid valve."

About one in 30 people over the age of 60 will develop a leaking tricuspid valve and in severe cases, two out of three patients won't survive five years.

They just become progressively sick, they dwindle and they often will pass away from it," said Mehta, who is also a professor of medicine at McMaster University.

When deoxygenated blood arrives back at the heart, it enters the right atrium. It then passes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle to be pumped to the lungs to pick up oxygen.

A leaky tricuspid valve means some of the blood from the right ventricle flows backward into the right atrium, reducing cardiac output by about 50 per cent and forcing the heart to work harder.

A leaky tricuspid valve also means fluid begins to build up over time in the patient's legs and abdomen, and it can cause liver congestion. Patients become weak and suffer tremendous fatigue.

For a lot of our heart diseases we have good medications to help control or prevent coronary disease," Mehta said.

But with this valve, we didn't have any medications that could actually help," he added. That's why it's been such a frustrating problem for cardiologists to treat."

But now there's hope for them, Mehta said.

The new treatment involves a tiny clip that holds together parts of the three flaps that make up the tricuspid valve. Some patients need just one clip, some need two, and some need three, depending on the severity of the leak.

The clips are delivered to the inside of the heart through a catheter that's inserted through a tiny puncture of the femoral vein in the groin.

There are no major incisions and no need for open heart surgery. Patients are often able to return home within a day and the recovery period is short.

This is a significant advance," Mehta said. It took a lot of effort by a lot of people to get to the point where we're able to do this.

This is a new innovative procedure in patients who have no other options," he added. We're all very proud of it."

Whatmore said he wasn't nervous about being a pioneer for the procedure in Canada.

I was prepared for the worst or the best," he said. Am I ever glad I said yes."

Now, he says, he has a new lease on life.

I can't say enough about the hospital and its team," Whatmore said. They basically saved my life."

Steve Buist is a Hamilton-based investigative reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbuist@thespec.com