Evaluation of Changes in the Cardiac Function before and after Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Mitral Valve Repair in Healthy Dogs: Conventional and Novel Echocardiography

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Mitral valve regurgitation in dogs is a common cardiac disease. The standard treatment for this disease is medical therapy, but as the condition progresses, it leads to congestive heart failure. In recent years, surgical treatment of mitral valve regurgitation in dogs has emerged, but the recommended procedure is invasive and time-consuming. Therefore, a less invasive and time-consuming surgical procedure is necessary for future utilization in the treatment of mitral valve regurgitation. Recently, a novel transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair device became available and is anticipated to be a minimally invasive and less time-consuming device, but there are no data available on the hemodynamic changes after its cardiac implantation. ABSTRACT: Mitral valve regurgitation is a common canine heart disease. Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER) is a transcatheter, edge-to-edge mitral repair device that uses a hybrid approach. No detailed information has been published on the hemodynamic effect of TEER on cardiac function. The aim of this report is to provide a longitudinal observation of the cardiac functional changes observed after TEER implantation in normal dogs using traditional, two-dimensional speckle tracking, and color M-mode echocardiographic methods. In the current report, TEER was implanted into two healthy dogs under general anesthesia. An echocardiographic examination was performed at baseline and weekly postoperative follow-ups were conducted until the fourth week. Successful TEER implantation was achieved with a short operation time (98 and 63 min) in the two dogs. Functional mitral valve regurgitation, elevated E/e’ ratio, elevated radial strain, and stable intraventricular pressure gradients (IVPG) were observed after the operation in the dogs. Mild non progressive mitral valve stenosis was observed in both dogs. TEER is a minimally invasive method for mitral valve surgery that necessitates more clinical trials. With longitudinal observation of heart function using novel approaches, better outcomes will be expected.