Purdue University Hospital Cardiology “Champion” is still standing after his bypass surgery

François’s Little Senator Train “Champion of the Five”.^H Match.” This is what we call here François who returned from his Apollo mission, 5 years ago^H The Haut-Lévêque Cardiology Hospital is identical to the University Hospital of Bordeaux. Because the 78-year-old Girondin may be moving slowly, but he is calm and smiling. Three myocardial infarctions, nine coronary stents and an acute mitral valve leak, his life was hanging by a thread. “Hello, it defines, the hero is not me, but the doctors who saved me. My first heart attack was in 2015, …

François’s Little Senator Train “Champion of the Five”.^H Match.” This is what we call here François who returned from his Apollo mission, 5 years ago^H The Haut-Lévêque Cardiology Hospital is identical to the University Hospital of Bordeaux. Because the 78-year-old Girondin may be moving slowly, but he is calm and smiling. Three myocardial infarctions, nine coronary stents and an acute mitral valve leak, his life was hanging by a thread. “Hi, it defines, the hero is not me, it’s the doctors who saved me. My first heart attack dates back to 2015, I was taken out in extreme sickness, then I had a second heart attack a year or two later, and a third. Since then, I’ve changed My life, I’ve caught my breath while walking, I’ve stopped everything, even driving. I was afraid something might happen to me while I’m driving and hurt someone. My poor doomed wife who’s mowing the lawn in my place…” Until the day that, after my final echocardiogram, François’ grim prognosis challenges the medical and surgical team at Haut-Lévêque.

Three professors – Louis Labrousse, Thomas Modine and Lionel Leroux – two surgeons and an interventional cardiologist. Three sonographers: Stéphane Lafitte, Julien Turnacle and Marina Degos. Rigid anesthesiologist: Prof. Stephane Ouattara. And in the middle, the American team Medtronic invented the INTREPID mitral valve. Professor Modine explains: “The patient’s heart was very fragile, his lung capacity was deteriorating, and he was clearly at risk of surgery. It would have required conventional surgery, an open-heart operation which he would not have tolerated, given his state of health. We offered him to participate in this first European technique, which is A non-surgical technique that has never been tested in France or in Europe, the percutaneous mitral valve implantation. »

“Not a hero, not even a guinea pig…”

“I was rescued again and was helping advance science. So I signed up.”

“This patient had the right profile to participate in this clinical trial, called Apollo,” continues Professor Lionel Leroux. We explained the protocol to him, and he came home with some reading, Before accepting and signing the approval. In fact, François read the entire file, without skipping a single line. Intrigued and grateful. “I understood, I didn’t have much other choice and I felt like this was an opportunity for me, too. I was spared again and I was helping to advance science, not as a hero, not really like a guinea pig for that matter, because I’m not an animal. So I signed on.”

The surgical medical team for valvulopathy is familiar with the surgical procedure, having practiced Tavi (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) for several years, any method that makes it possible to position the valve via an incision in the crease of the thigh and lift it up into the heart. Professor Leroux continues: “This method has been well mastered today, but it is particularly relevant for aortic valves. With regard to the mitral valve, we have not had an alternative to open-heart surgery, simply because this valve is less accessible and more complex.”

“Two days later I was walking.”

Thanks to the talent of the engineers, a new mitral valve was revealed, compatible both technically and in terms of results. But before this new valve was validated, and in a minimally invasive mode of operation, a medical-surgical unit was necessary to encounter real life. François landed there. The first rope. He accepted the challenge without blinking. “I was hospitalized on Wednesday, on Thursday I had surgery and came home on Monday,” he says quipped. “I was a little shocked the next day, but the next day I was walking. I had already regained some breathing. Since then, my doctors have been watching me like The milk is on fire, and I am auscultating regularly, moreover, I have just had an ultrasound of the heart. I am getting better, but I have to regain my breath little by little, and the muscles I have lost. I have only one desire, to resume ping-pong! And to replace my wife with cut Grass… There, I’m less in a hurry. »

The American team of Medtronic, owner of the innovation, traveled to the Haut-Lévêque Cardiology Hospital to participate in this first European hospital, knowing that the University Hospital of Bordeaux is one of the largest French centers, with 200 patients performing operations every year there, 500 of whom use TAVI method. Champion of the Five^H He will be closely monitored for months to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of the intervention. Within five years, the technology must be validated by health authorities and supported by Social Security.