Medical Animation News

Heart valve problems are more common than many people realize, hence the importance of accurately explaining these potentially life-threatening conditions to patients who may have them. Recently, a team of cardiologists posted a special medical animation depicting mitral valve repair surgery.

The 3D medical visualization appeared in the online version of the New England Journal of Medicine, in conjunction with the publication of a study examining the efficacy of percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR) surgery.

Mitral valve problems, in a nutshell

PMVR is used to fix mitral valve regurgitation, which the National Institutes of Health states in the most common heart valve problem in the U.S. It estimates that past the age of 55, around 20 percent of men and women have some level of mitral valve regurgitation.

What is this valve, and why is it important? Well, each of the heart's four chambers is responsible for ferrying blood to and from either the lungs or the head and extremities. The mitral valve is the two-lipped passageway that connects the left atrium and ventricle, the stronger half of the cardiac muscle that pumps freshly oxygenated blood out into the body.

In a healthy person, the mitral valve fully opens and closes a few times each second. However, as explained in the 3D medical animation, birth defects or heart problems can weaken this valve, preventing it from fully forming a seal every time it closes.

Without a tight seal, blood backs up into the left atrium, causing pressure problems in the heart and impairing good blood flow into the body.

Medical animation illustrates PMVR

For the new study, researchers followed the health outcomes of hundreds of volunteers who received either open-heart mitral valve repairs or PMVRs, which are less invasive operations performed via catheter.

To differentiate between the two, the group created a medical visualization illustrating how PMVR delivers a small clip to the mitral valve, pinning it partially together and reducing regurgitation.

The investigation determined that though mitral valve surgery and PMVR had similar complication rates, the former is about 20 percent more likely to be fully effective.

Medical animations like the one created for the online version of the report can give both casual readers and clinical experts a better idea of the physiological concepts involved in intricate surgical studies.

Amerra provides custom medical animations, medical illustrations and interactive medical software. For additional information please contact us at 1.888.9AMERRA or e-mail info@amerra.com.