Transcatheter innovations in tricuspid regurgitation: Cardioband

Functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) has been neglected for a long time, however its prevalence and clinical relevance is not negligible. In presence of FTR, a certain quote of annular dilatation is present thus contributing to the mechanism of regurgitation. Historically, surgical annuloplasty has been the main treatment to correct FTR; however surgical repair is limited by a high risk of mortality and morbidity. For this reason, percutaneous tricuspid annuloplasty is an attractive tool for the treatment of FTR in patients at high surgical risk. A number of both direct and indirect percutaneous annuloplasty systems are currently under pre-clinical and clinical development. This review will discuss the Cardioband system, a novel direct annuloplasty device with promising result in terms of clinical safety and efficacy.