Mitral valve regurgitation and left ventricular dysfunction treatment with an intravalvular spacer.

Attempts at transcatheter treatment of mitral valve regurgitation have generally been modeled on proven surgical procedures such as leaflet repair, annuloplasty, or prosthetic valve implantation. We introduce a novel approach to directly reducing the regurgitant orifice: the mitral valve spacer, a balloon that attempts to reduce the regurgitant orifice.