A Peek into the Future – Repair and Replacement of the Mitral and Tricuspid Valves with the Edwards Portfolio

Personal History

From an early age, Professor Nicolas Maria Van Mieghem decided to pursue a career that would help others. “I enjoy the feeling of being able to help someone or do something important for them. I wanted to enter a profession that would channel my energy— I was always a busy child,” he says. 

A budding athlete, he was a member of Belgium’s national swimming team but soon realized that medicine was his true calling. His father was a general cardiologist and one of his biggest influences early in his career.

Professor Van Mieghem initially intended to train as a cardiac surgeon but decided to specialise in interventional cardiology instead, following advice from a mentor. This decision was cemented when he read the first-in-human case report of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in Circulation by Alain Cribier in 2002. 

His mantra is mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body). He remains an avid swimmer and cyclist and follows a number of professional sports. “Like all Belgians, I love to watch the big cycling events—the classic cycle races, the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a España,” he says. 

Van Mieghem believes that a great cardiologist genuinely cares for their patients. He names Gary Roubin, Dr Manu Malbrain and Professor Patrick Serruys among his mentors. 

Academic History

In 2007, Professor Van Mieghem obtained his medical and cardiology degrees at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He completed fellowships in interventional cardiology in Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg Genk, Belgium, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, US and Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.2 His PhD focused on transcatheter valve therapies.³

His current research focuses on cerebral embolic protection during TAVI and the search for improved large bore closure devices. He works actively in expanding TAVI indications, most notably TAVI as a means to further unload the left ventricle in heart failure patients with moderate aortic stenosis (the TAVR UNLOAD trial). Professor Van Mieghem is also involved in the development and dispersion of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices as well as transcatheter mitral and tricuspid repair techniques. In terms of imaging and preprocedural planning, his research has covered computed tomography (CT)-derived 3D modelling and printing.

Professor Van Mieghem has received institutional research grant support from Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, Daiichi-Sankyo, PulseCath BV and Abiomed.⁷

Career Overview

After his fellowships, Professor Van Mieghem joined the department of interventional cardiology at the Thorax Centre, Erasmus Medical Center, as a senior staff member in February 2010. He is now working there as a Full Professor of Interventional Cardiology.²

As well as his involvement in the percutaneous coronary interventions and structural heart programs, he has published and co-authored over 350 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.4 Professor Van Mieghem is a principal investigator and steering committee member in multiple ongoing international trials, evaluating various coronary and transcatheter valve technologies.³ He is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) and is currently Medical Director of the department of Interventional cardiology at the Thorax Centre.³

Career Timeline

• 2008 - 2009: Fellow, Interventional Cardiology, Lenox Hill Hospital
• 2010: Joined the senior staff, Interventional Cardiology, Thorax Centre, Erasmus MC
• 2014: Clinical Director, Interventional Cardiology, Erasmus MC
• 2019 - Present: Full Professor, Interventional Cardiology, Erasmus MC
• Present: Medical Director, Interventional Cardiology, Thorax Centre 

Areas of Speciality⁴

• Interventional Cardiology
• Transcatheter Heart Valve Interventions

Sources

1. https://cardiovascularnews.com/nicolas-van-mieghem/
2. https://esc365.escardio.org/Person/418700-dr-van-mieghem-nicolas 
3. https://www.radcliffecardiology.com/authors/nicolas-m-van-mieghem 
4. https://www.ecri-trials.com/faculty/nicolas-van-mieghem/ 
5. https://www.cardialysis.com/core-lab/supervising-cardiologists/ 
6. https://www.worldcat.org/title/transcatheter-aortic-valve-therapies-from-cutting-edge-to-mainstream-catheter-gebonden-aortaklep-implantatie/oclc/892053833 
7. https://www.jacc.org/doi/pdf/10.1016/j.jcin.2020.12.021 

 Prof Van Mieghem is on the ICR3 Editorial Board.

Prof Peter Lüdike is Senior Physician of the Heart Failure and Intensive Care section in the Department of Cardiology and Vascular Medicine at the West German Heart and Vascular Center, University Hospital Essen. He achieved Venia legendi for internal medicine in 2018 and was appointed as Full Professor for heart failure in 2020. His research interests include intensive care medicine, emergency medicine, heart failure, mitral valve disease and the role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in the development of ischaemic heart disease.

Prof Philipp Lurz is Deputy Head of the Department at Heart Center Leipzig, Germany, a position he has held since 2018. Previously, Prof Lurz was a Clinical Research Fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust. He completed his education at the University of Leipzig, and is a member of the German Society of Cardiology. Prof Luz is widely published in leading international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Ralph Stephan von Bardeleben is the Head of the Center of Structural Heart Disease Interventions and the Heart Valve Center in Mainz, Germany. Following the completion of his medical education at the University of Mainz and the University of California in San Francisco, US, Dr Bardeleben trained as both an imager and interventional cardiologist. Since 2004 he has served as Head of the CV imaging department. A regular speaker at international events, Dr Bardeleben's department has played key roles in a number of early 'in-man' implantations and other international trials.

Prof Philip Raake is a senior physician who leads the HFU centre at the Department of Cardiology at Heidelberg University Hospital. He also runs the Interventional HF programme.

Prof Philip Raake attended medical school at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. Between 2006 and 2008, Prof Raake worked at the Center for Translational Medicine, under the direction of Prof Walter Koch, at the Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

In 2008 Prof Raake returned to Germany, where his established the first university Advanced Heart Failure Unit in Germany focusing on optimised care in advanced HF. He has authored or co-authored several papers in leading peer-reviewed journals on HF basic molecular mechanisms, and clinical aspects of advanced HF. He serves on several working groups for the German Society for Cardiology and the German Federal Physicians Association.