Atlantic Health System’s Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center announced Nov. 16 the enrollment of the first patient into the Progress clinical trial, which may change the standard of care for aortic stenosis.
The trial will evaluate whether there is benefit from replacing the aortic valve via a minimally invasive, non-surgical, catheter-based procedure before patients progress to a severe degree of the disease, as compared to the standard of care of clinical surveillance.
"The Progress trial is an extremely important trial for the more than 2.5 million people who suffer from aortic stenosis. It may change the current paradigm of waiting until patients reach a severe or critical degree of stenosis before replacing their valves," said Philippe Genereux, MD, principal investigator and a director of the Structural Heart Program at the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute at Morristown Medical Center.
"The progression of aortic stenosis is unpredictable, and there may be a price to pay for waiting to treat – the goal of early intervention with valve replacement is to preserve the heart’s function, prevent further heart deterioration, and in some cases, prevent death."