A Pervasive Problem
The CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) Epidemic
There are 5 million patients in U.S.1 with CHF and 550,000 newly diagnosed each year. It is a disease associated with morbidity & mortality, with approximately 50% of individual’s dying within 3 years of clinical presentation.2
The cost of treatment is between $10-$40 billion per year3. The disease in marked with a high hospitalization rate, with almost 1 million annual hospital discharges in the U.S.1, a number that has doubled in the past two decades.
This population of patients is underserved with few available treatment options. Current treatment falls into three main categories:
- Medical therapy
- Cardiac transplantation
- Left Ventricular Assist Device
1 AHA 2003 Update
2 Heart Failure Reviews, 6, 177-185, 2001
3 Clin Geriatric Med 2000 Aug; 16(3): 567-92
Untreated Problem: MR in CHF
Pathologic leaking of mitral valve affects 3MM CHF patients or about 5-7million individuals.
There are about 300,000 newly diagnosed patients in the U.S. each year.
Left untreated, MR leads to progressive clinical deterioration, an independent cause of worsened survival that results in billions of dollars in healthcare costs.
1 Boiling, Hrt Fail Reviews, 6, 177-185, 2001
Valve Disease Prevalence
The Lancet, Volume 368, Issue 9540, Pages 1005 - 1011, 16 September 2006.
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69208-8