WVU Heart and Vascular Institute team performs Switzerland's first robotic complex bileaflet mitral valve repair

A team from the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute performed the first robotic complex bileaflet mitral valve prolapse repair in Switzerland on Feb. 3 at the University of Zurich Heart Center.

The WVU team included Vinay Badhwar, MD and Lawrence Wei, MD, along with Michael Kuzman, director of advanced practice providers, and Adam Charlton, lead surgery technician.

The surgery was successfully performed on a 45-year-old male with the most advanced form of mitral valve prolapse, otherwise known as Barlow's disease, which is the improper closure of the valve between the heart's upper and lower left chambers.

The WVU team, which is helping the University of Zurich Heart Center start its robotic heart surgery program, will remain in Zurich Feb. 5-7 to lecture and teach at an international mitral valve meeting, which is being attended by more than 800 cardiothoracic surgeons and other heart care providers from round the world.

In December 2016, the lead surgeon from the University of Zurich Heart Center – Alberto Weber, MD – visited the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute in Morgantown to observe mitral valve prolapse repair surgery.

Photo caption: Pictured, left to right, at the University of Zurich Heart Center are Vinay Badhwar, MD; Lawrence Wei, MD; Alberto Weber, MD; Michael Kuzman; and Adam Charlton.