LARGO, Fla. — A breakthrough heart procedure was just completed successfully for the first time in the Tampa Bay area at HCA Florida Largo Hospital, and only the second time in Florida. 

What You Need To Know

  • HCA Florida Largo Hospital is the first on the Gulf Coast of Florida to successfully perform the innovative procedure for a patient affected by severe tricuspid regurgitation

  • Tricuspid regurgitation is a valve disease in which the valve between the two right-sided heart chambers does not close properly. It affects 1.6 million people in the United States every year

  • This procedure was just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April 2024

  • Patient Lucien Bouchard, an 87-year-old male, had severe tricuspid regurgitation and was experiencing dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath with activity and lower extremity swelling

It involves tricuspid valve regurgitation, which affects 1.6 million Americans each year. If left untreated, it can lead to organ damage and right-sided heart failure. 

Lucien Bouchard, 87, was getting dizzy, struggled to breathe and his legs swelled just a few months ago. Turns out, the right chambers of his heart were not closing properly and leaking. 

Until April, open heart surgery and/or medication were the only available solutions. 

“Well, it kind of makes you worry. You know, how long? But you never know. But they did a good job,” Bouchard said. 

Thankfully for Bouchard, a new option was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April. It is called tricuspid clipping, and it saved his life. 

“Historically, the tricuspid valve has been called the forgotten valve by cardiologists because, in many cases, the treatment options for this disease were very limited,” said Dr. Saurabh Sanon, structural interventional cardiologist, HCA Florida Largo Hospital. “You either started the patient on diuretic therapy, hoping to reduce the amount of leakage, or you referred the patient for open heart surgery.”

With Bouchard not a candidate for open heart surgery, Sanon said he knew Bouchard would be the perfect first candidate for tricuspid clipping. 

“This has opened up a whole new space for cardiologists to treat, and we can really offer our patients — millions of patients in the country that were previously untreated — now an option which is simple. It’s safe, and it’s easy,” Sanon said. 

TriClip, a small, clip-like device made by Abbott, is inserted through a vein in the leg, and guided to the right side of the heart.

The clip is secured into place to stop the leaking between the two chambers.

“You start off with a whole lot of leakage, a whole lot of red color here, and the end up with no leakage over here. This is a fantastic result for a patient,” Sanon said. 

“No pain. Just a couple of little holes. That’s all,” Bouchard said. 

He was out of the hospital the next day, and back to walking a mile a day just days after that. 

“Oh yeah, feel like doing a little bit more now. If my wife don’t stop me. She puts a stop to me sometimes,” Bouchard said lovingly of his wife. 

Currently, HCA Florida Largo Hospital is the only hospital in Tampa Bay doing this procedure. 

Anyone with symptoms of tricuspid regurgitation, like shortness of breath, swelling in the legs, and dizziness, should ask their cardiologist if that is what they have. Sanon accepts referrals.