Duke Valve Center - Division of Cardiovascular Medicine ::

Duke Valve Center

The Duke Valve Center is a team of cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of valvular heart disease. We are one of the largest such programs in the country, with over 16,000 out patient visits in the valvular heart disease program in the past 5 years. We are proud of our experience and dedication to advancing knowledge on behalf of our patients. Some of the highlights of our program are:

Mitral and Tricuspid Valve disease
- The Percutaneous Balloon Mitral Valvuloplasty Program (opening blocked mitral valves in the cardiac catheterization laboratory) began in 1989, making us one of oldest and largest series in US. In last 5 years alone we have performed over 170 balloon mitral valvuloplasties.
- Currently, we are one of 20 sites in country with percutaneous mitral valve repair technology- reducing mitral valvular regurgitation without surgery.
- We have one of 5 largest experiences in tricuspid valve repair/replacement in country.
Minimally invasive procedures
- We have the second largest experience in the world in mini-thoracotomy valve repair/replacement, having performed over 800 mitral valve procedures, 200 aortic valve procedures, and 200 tricuspid procedures.
- Our technology is second to none with extensive experience with robotic surgery and adjunctive and primary mini-thoracotomy maze procedures.
- We are proud of having the world’s largest experience with cannulation in chest to avoid groin incision, and offering our patients the advantages of earlier return to normal activity, less bleeding, less transfusion, less infection, and better cosmetic results.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HOCM)
- Our comprehensive program is one of the few that provides everything from a dedicated clinic offering medical therapy or genetic counseling to a percutaneous repair program to surgical intervention.
- In last 5 years, 65 alcohol ablations in the cardiac catheterization laboratory have been performed on a broad spectrum of patients.
- We also have a large surgical experience with septal myectomy for HOCM with outstanding results.
Endocarditis is a signature program at Duke. We have extensive experience and research in treating and curing routine and complicated endocarditis.
Our outcomes are superb: We have performed over 150 redo mitral valve procedure using minimally invasive techniques, with less than 1.5% mortality.
Research and education are vitally important parts of the Center.
- The Duke Valve Surgery Database follows 9000 patients undergoing surgery for valve disease
- Our separate endocarditis service has resulted in the internationally accepted “Duke Criteria” for defining endocarditis. The database for this project has now expanded to an International Database with over 30 participating countries.
- Currently pioneering new hybrid valve surgery/percutaneous revascularization procedures.
Supporting programs:
- Our outstanding imaging center evaluates valvular disease without the need for invasive procedures. Available procedures include echocardiography (including 3-D echo), magnetic resonance imaging dedicated solely to cardiac issues and multi-detector computerized tomographic angiography. Specialized exercise testing and blood work complement the imaging and diagnostic testing available.
- A catheterization laboratory dedicated to the study of patients with complex valvular heart disease lesions (over 300 patients studied each year). We are national leaders in this area.