New Braunfels | June 2025

Health care

BY AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN

Christus Santa Rosa Hospital offers minimally invasive heart procedure

regurgitation or leakiness. The procedure allows doctors to repair a valve through a small incision in a leg vein as opposed to opening a patient’s chest, the news release states. This reduces a patient’s recovery time to a little over a week. The recovery time for a traditional open-heart surgery is typically six to eight weeks, the release states.

Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in New Braunfels offers a minimally invasive heart valve procedure called transcatheter mitral valve repair, or MitraClip™, which can serve as an alternative option to traditional open-heart surgery, according to a news release. The MitraClip™ is a small clip that is attached to the mitral valve to help it close, avoiding

By the numbers Over 150,000 patients have been treated with the MitraClip™ device worldwide, according to Abbott’s website. Abbott is a global health care company that develops, manufactures and sells medical devices. reduction in relative risk of mortality hours is the typical length of the procedure relative risk reduction in heart failure hospitalization 33% 1-3 51%

SOURCE: ABBOTT/COMMUNITY IMPACT

Digging deeper

program in New Braunfels means patients can stay and be cared for close to home, Hyde said in the release. Genifer Rucker, president of Christus Santa Rose Hospital in New Braunfels, said she was proud of the work their team is doing to ensure the safety and well- being of their patients.

Brannon Hyde, a cardiovascular surgeon with Christus Santa Rosa Health System, said the procedure is used to treat significant mitral regurgitation, which occurs when the heart’s mitral valve is not working properly, causing the lungs to become congested from reverse blood flow. The hospital’s ability to offer a “robust” cardiology

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