When Deborah Haracz first met Mark Ricciardi, MD, a cardiologist with Endeavor Health, she was experiencing significant shortness of breath.
She had been dealing with her breathlessness, caused by a leaky heart valve, by slowing down and limiting her activities.
Fortunately, Haracz was a good candidate for a mitral valve repair clinical trial. She was one of the first people to get the newest, fourth-generation MitraClip inserted in 2020, which helped her regain her breath.
“Fast forward several years, she becomes symptomatic again. Turns out her mitral valve was fine, but now her sister valve, the tricuspid valve, became leaky,” Dr. Ricciardi said.
Haracz was one of the first people to join a TriClip clinical trial and had her tricuspid valve repaired in 2023.
“It’s been an awesome experience for me. I’m a happier, more content person,” Haracz said. “And spending time with my great-grandchildren is a little easier now, I feel a little bit stronger and more comfortable in holding them and talking to them. It’s generally made a much nicer, more pleasant life for me.”
Countless hours and piles of paperwork go into getting each patient into a clinical trial, said Dominic Novelli, cardiology research coordinator at Endeavor Health, as Endeavor Health experts are persistent and work hard to get patients access to innovative treatments.
“Deborah’s story tells a lot about this cardiovascular institute, which is that we are not only a place for clinical care, but we’re a place for innovation and research,” Dr. Ricciardi said.
“This is what I consider an academic, non-university hospital setting. And that means we have all the missions of the academic centers, we care a ton about our patient outcomes, and we do it in an environment that’s very easy for us to both take care of our patients, but also still stay on the cutting edge and do clinical research.”
