DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC SURGERY, HOAG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PRESBYTERIAN
WHY: Leading cardiothoracic surgeon, with a specialty in transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, which is a noninvasive alternative to open-heart surgery. Caffarelli has been working with TAVR since 2007 when it was first introduced in clinical trials.
BY THE NUMBERS: Mitral valve disease, which affects more than 8 million Americans, can cause obstruction (stenosis), leakage (regurgitation), or a combination of both. About 90% of mitral surgeries at Hoag are to repair the problem, Caffarelli said, adding that sometimes when there is too much calcium, the valve must be replaced.
FUTURE PLANS: Hoag is participating in a study with the newest heart valves from Irvine’s Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), Orange County’s most valuable publicly traded medtech company. The study, called Momentis, will follow patients over a 10-year period after they receive an Edwards Mitris Resilia valve. Since the valve last year received FDA approval, Hoag has already performed more than a dozen mitral valve replacements in the last eight months, officials said in April. “It’s a good valve,” Caffarelli, the principal investigator for the study, told the Business Journal. “This newer substrate of the valve is going to win.”
