Country-made device saves heart patient in city’s hospital

Patna: A 76-year-old woman with severe “mitral regurgitation” was successfully treated using India’s first home-grown mitral clip device, MyClip at a hospital here.

Mitral regurgitation is a condition in which the heart’s mitral valve fails to close properly, causing blood to leak backward and increasing the risk of heart failure, said doctors.

The elderly patient had been battling severe breathlessness, swollen feet, extreme fatigue, kidney disease, anaemia, and advanced heart disease for nearly three years. Her condition had made routine daily activities increasingly difficult. Doctors at Jay Prabha Medanta Super Speciality Hospital, Patna, diagnosed her with severe mitral regurgitation.

Given her age and multiple health complications, conventional options such as open-heart surgery or heart transplant was considered risky. Doctors then opted for the minimally invasive MyClip procedure, in which the device is delivered through a small tube inserted via a blood vessel, avoiding the need for major surgery. As per the official press release from the hospital, the patient underwent the treatment on May 5 and was discharged on May 8.

The procedure was performed by Dr Pramod Kumar, director and head of cardiology, along with Dr Ajay Kumar Sinha, director of clinical and preventive cardiology. Following the intervention, the patient showed marked improvement and is now able to manage her daily routine with greater ease.

Dr Praveen Chandra, chairman of interventional cardiology and cardiac care at the hospital's Gurugram wing, said advanced technologies developed in India such as MyClip could become a game changer for the healthcare sector by expanding access to world-class treatment. He said minimally invasive procedures reduce risk, support faster recovery, and significantly improve quality of life.

Doctors said the development is especially significant because nearly 1.5 million Indians are estimated to suffer from severe mitral regurgitation, many of them elderly and medically fragile. In Bihar alone, thousands face similar challenges. Specialists at the hospital said that untreated severe mitral regurgitation can have devastating outcomes, with high mortality among patients who are not suitable for surgery.