St. Luke’s Performs First Procedure Using ShortCut™ Device for Safer Heart Valve Treatment

St. Luke’s University Health Network has reached an important milestone in advanced heart care. Members of St. Luke’s Structural Heart Program, an integral part of our award-winning heart and vascular team, were among the first in Pennsylvania to use the Pi‑Cardia ShortCut™ device, an innovative technology designed to make certain high‑risk heart valve procedures safer and more predictable.

The ShortCut™ device was used during a valve‑in‑valve transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in a patient with a previously implanted surgical bioprosthetic aortic valve. If a patient’s initial valve replacement begins to reach end-of-life, this procedure is done to place a new valve over top of the existing one by a catheter inserted via a small incision in the patient’s groin.

The procedure was performed by Christopher Sarnoski, DO, Section Chief of Interventional Cardiology and Medical Director of Structural Heart Disease, and Jose Amortegui, MD, Chief of Cardiac Surgery.

“This device represents a major step forward in protecting patients with complex anatomy. It allows us to safely treat individuals who previously had no good options often involving redo open heart surgery,” said Dr. Amortegui.

Why Some Patients Cannot Have a Standard Valve‑in‑Valve TAVR

Patients who have undergone open‑heart surgery to receive a tissue (bioprosthetic) aortic valve often require another valve procedure years later when the first valve wears out. A valve‑in‑valve TAVR is a minimally invasive way to treat this without repeating open‑heart surgery.

However, some patients have what is known as low coronary height, meaning their heart’s coronary arteries sit very close to the valve. In these situations, when a new valve is placed inside the old one, the old valve’s leaflet can be pushed upward and block blood flow to the coronary arteries. This can be dangerous and potentially life‑threatening.

How ShortCut™ Helps

The ShortCut™ device is designed to gently open the old surgical valve’s leaflet before the new valve is implanted. By precisely splitting the leaflet, ShortCut™ helps:

• Prevent the leaflet from blocking coronary arteries

• Make valve‑in‑valve TAVR safer for patients with low coronary height

• Offer a minimally invasive alternative to repeat open‑heart surgery

“Before ShortCut™, the only other options for these high‑risk patients were a redo sternotomy, which carries significantly higher surgical risk, or placing stents in a snorkel fashion out into the aorta, which further limits repeat coronary procedures,” said Dr. Sarnoski. “ShortCut™ provides a safer and more durable solution for many of these complex cases.”

Looking Ahead

Experts estimate that by 2035, more than 40,000 valve‑in‑valve procedures will be performed in the United States each year. A significant portion of these cases will require leaflet‑modification technologies like ShortCut™ to ensure safe coronary blood flow.

For more information about St. Luke’s heart valve program, visit sluhn.org/heart.

Photo caption – From left, along bedside: Jesse Tate, RT; Jose Amortegui, MD; Christopher Sarnoski, DO, performing one of the first Valve-in-Valve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (ViV TAVR) in the state using the Pi-Cardia ShortCut device on Tuesday, November 18th.