In our community, patient interest specific to mitral valve repair surgery continues to grow. To support that educational interest, I've attended workshops, traveled to conferences and published free eBooks dedicated to mitral valve reconstruction techniques.

The response to our webinar, "Advantages of Mitral Valve Repair", has been extraordinary. Hosted by Dr. Patrick McCarthy, Dr. James Thomas and myself, this 60-minute session connected patients from all over the world in real-time to discuss mitral valve disease and treatment options including mitral valve repair techniques.

Holy Moly! Sign-ups for our FREE upcoming webinar, "Advantages of Mitral Valve Repair", soared past 250 patients since I announced this educational event last week!

The possibility of heart valve "re-operations" is known within our community. As patients, we hope that only one valve procedure is needed during our lifetime. However, the reality is that patients may need one or more re-operations.

At the recent "Ask Me Anything" session at the Heart Valve Summit in Chicago, I received a great question from Maria about heart valve repair rings (also known as annuloplasty rings). Maria wrote to me, "Hi, Adam, two questions. Could you please ask the surgeons about annuloplasty rings, and which styles and brands have the best track record for long-term effectiveness following a mitral valve repair surgery? Thanks! Maria"

I'm a big fan of simple and thoughtful advice for patients. So, when I learned about this new study, "Relation of Mitral Valve Surgery Volume to Repair Rate, Durability & Survival", in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, I wanted to share it with our community.

This is an amazing woman. At 92, Kato Pomer was on the brink of death due to severe mitral regurgitation. Then... Thanks to the love and tenacity of Karen, her daughter, Kato enrolled in a clinical trial for the MitraClip at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

I recently received a great question from Sandy about mitral regurgitation and her mitral chords, also known as mitral chordae.

[This story is brought to you by the Mitral Foundation in collaboration with HeartValveSurgery.com]

Charlotte Cummings, 81, could no longer walk the streets of Chicago due to shortness of breath and fatigue. She suffered from severe mitral valve regurgitation and other health concerns. Unfortunately, Charlotte was not a candidate for mitral valve surgery due to the risks associated with traditional surgical approaches.

For our next 'Ask Me Anything' video from the Heart Valve Summit, we're going to answer a great question from Pamela. In her Facebook post, Pamela asks, "When should the mitral valve be repaired?"

During our recent "Ask Me Anything" video series, I received a great question from Diane McKee. In her email, Diane writes, "I had a mitral valve repair 20 years ago. Is the heart valve repair ring going to last a life span?"

I've shared the wonderful MitraClip success story of Kato Pomer before.

Great news! Our 'Ask Me Anything' video series from the Mitral Conclave Conference has been an educational hit!

For our second "Ask Me Anything" video from the Mitral Conclave conference, we're going to answer Dorothy's question about the MitraClip, a new transcatheter mitral valve repair device (TMVR) that received FDA approval in 2013. In her post, Dorothy asked me, "Is the MitraClip getting closer to being a standardized procedure?"

A key question for patients needing heart valve surgery is, "What type of incision will be used to access and then repair or replace my heart valve?"

Great news. If you missed our recent webinar, "Advances in Mitral Valve Surgery; Plus, Valve Management Guidelines" with Dr. David Adams, Dr. Rick Nishimura and myself, you can now download the free 40-page eBook by clicking here.

I am very excited to announce that Dr. David Adams, the Program Director of The Mount Sinai Hospital's Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center, and Dr. Rick Nishimura, Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, will be hosting a special one-hour webinar on Friday, December 19, at 12:0pm EST.

I was very fortunate to recently connect with Dr. Alfredo Trento, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. As you may know, Dr. Trento has successfully treated many patients from our community including Jerry Andis, Terry Beaschler and Patricia Shabel.

In case you missed it... The MitraClip just received a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the United States. This is REALLY big news as the MitraClip is now the first-and-only transcatheter valve therapy for patients with leaking mitral valves, also known as regurgitation. Using the MitraClip, physicians can treat defective mitral leaflets without causing any trauma to the patient's sternum or ribs. Yep, you read that right. No cracked bones!