Introduction
Functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) is characterized by mitral annular
dilatation, inadequate leaflet coaptation and tethering of the mitral
valve leaflets resulting from left ventricular dysfunction and
remodeling [1].
The increased risk of surgical annuloplasty in the setting of FMR, and
the unclear benefits of this procedure [2] has encouraged the search
for alternative, innovative catheter-based and minimally invasive
solutions such as indirect annuloplasty, direct annuloplasty and
transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR).
The Cardioband (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) is a
transcatheter direct annuloplasty device, which is based on the surgical
concept of an undersized ring annuloplasty. Since its clinical use
started in 2014, several procedural complications have been reported,
such as complete atrioventricular block and device dehiscence during or
immediately after the intervention [3,4]. In this report, a “cut
and unscrew” technique is presented for surgical explantation of a
dehiscent Cardioband device 21 months after the implantation.