Saskatchewan residents battling heart valve diseases will no longer have to seek treatment outside the province, as an Interventional Tricuspid Valve Repair Program is coming to the Royal University Hospital.

Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Janine Eckstein says following a $330,000 investment from the provincial government, 10 people per year will be able to receive a minimally invasive treatment that will repair their tricuspid valve, a procedure that patients used to travel to Ontario to get, as the technology did not exist in western Canada.

“It requires time for people to get a date in Ontario. It requires money. It (means) making sure you have a family member that can travel with you. All of those are delays that we won’t have if we get to treat people here.”

Eckstein says if left untreated, a leaky or regurgitant tricuspid valve leads to heart failure.

“It changes quality of life, it means more ER visits, it means more hospital admissions, and that puts a lot of stress on the patient and their families.”

Previously, the only treatment options in Saskatchewan were open heart surgery and medications that Eckstein claims didn’t fix the underlying problem. She adds that valve repair treatments at RUH will be minimally invasive.

“Which means that usually people come in the day of their procedure. They stay one night in hospital, at the most two, but 90 per cent of people stay one night, and then they get to go home the next day.”

Eckstein says heart valve disease is common, especially in older adults.

“The most common type is age related. All part of us do get older, so valve disease does go up over the age of 65. Some people are born with abnormal valves that make them degenerate even in their thirties or forties.”

Ten waitlisted patients will begin receiving the treatment in January of 2025.