Introduction
Functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) is characterized by mitral annular dilatation, inadequate leaflet coaptation and tethering of the mitral valve leaflets resulting from left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling [1].
The increased risk of surgical annuloplasty in the setting of FMR, and the unclear benefits of this procedure [2] has encouraged the search for alternative, innovative catheter-based and minimally invasive solutions such as indirect annuloplasty, direct annuloplasty and transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR).
The Cardioband (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) is a transcatheter direct annuloplasty device, which is based on the surgical concept of an undersized ring annuloplasty. Since its clinical use started in 2014, several procedural complications have been reported, such as complete atrioventricular block and device dehiscence during or immediately after the intervention [3,4]. In this report, a “cut and unscrew” technique is presented for surgical explantation of a dehiscent Cardioband device 21 months after the implantation.