centers in the US that were able to offer this technology. Each hospital needs skilled technicians and operators who know 2D and 3D Echo-cardiogram criteria for selecting mitral clip candidates, and who can assist with intraprocedural guidance when the mitral clip is installed. In addition, as of 2016, there is a lack of coverage of health insurance by Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to the EVEREST 2 Trial, 20% of patients who received MitraClip required surgical repair vs 2% who received open heart surgery. Overall surgical repair has more of a pronounced effect in reducing mitral regurgitation Post Procedure Patients will need dual anti-platelet therapy for 6 months or more. Within the next 6 months, patients will need antibiotics for endocarditis prophylaxis for dental and urological procedures. History In 1996, Ottavio Alfieri proposed to Dr Mehmet Oz that the mitral valve only needed one suture to close a leak. Oz developed the idea to use a catheter to put one staple in and submitted the patent for MitraClip in 1997. He helped to create a start-up called Evalve Inc. in 1999, which later became a division of Abbott Laboratories. The company's first chief executive officer was Ferolyn Powell. She grew Evalve Inc. until the Abbott acquisition in 2009, and led a trial of 600 patients that revealed those using MitraClip reduced their hospitalizations in half and deaths by 38 percent. MitraClip was first implanted in 2003, obtained CE marking in Europe in 2008, and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013. The FDA obligated the company to run post-marketing studies to confirm the safety and efficacy of the device. Two industry-funded RCTs of the MitraClip in patients with mitral regurgitation and heart failure demonstrated mixed results. Abbott expanded its MitraClip training process in 2016, after several instances of surgical complications. See also Mitral valve repair Intrepid Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement System References Interventional cardiology Medical devices Valvular heart disease