Through this programme, the aim is to optimize the available resources with a new model of comprehensive care. Since the start of the project, 50 patients have been treated with surgery, 35 with TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) and 15 with medication.
AVS is a degenerative disease that causes a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve. This narrowing prevents the valve from opening fully. This results in reduced blood flow from the heart to the aorta and the rest of the body. When AVS becomes symptomatic, the patient’s quality of life and the clinical prediction of survival are reduced drastically. Different treatments are available for this disease. In order to decide on the best therapeutic strategy for each patient, and to apply it as quickly as possible, the MITMEVA project was launched. This project is a Public Procurement of Innovation (CPI) programme promoted by the Department of Health with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
According to Dr. Bàrbara Vidal, cardiologist and the project’s coordinator, “we want the diagnoses to be quicker and the series of diagnostic tests to be carried out more smoothly. It is also very important for the patient to have all the information possible and for them to be able to make decisions throughout the entire process: we must allow them to participate in the decision-making”.
It is hoped that the MITMEVA project will sow the seeds for working in a different way: involving primary care specialists and cardiology specialists from other centres more closely and setting up smooth channels of communication between the professionals involved and, above all, incorporating patient participation in decision-making.
