Posts by Jacob Dal-Bianco, MD
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Novel Therapeutic May Prevent Mitral Valve Damage After Heart Attack
Damage to the mitral valve after heart attack leads to HF and death. Treatment with hypertension drug may reduce mitral valve scaring and stiffening.
Biography
Jacob Dal-Bianco, MD, is a graduate of the University of Vienna Medical School, Austria. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, followed by fellowships in Echocardiography and Cardiovascular Diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. He joined the staff of the Mass General Hospital in 2013 as a faculty member of the Cardiology Division and MGH Heart Valve Program. Dr. Dal-Bianco's work has been recognized by a Career Development Award from the American Society of Echocardiography, by his selection for Young Investigator Award presentations of the American Heart Association and American Society of Echocardiography and by the Stanford Calderwood Prize for postdoctoral fellow research from the Mass General Hospital.
Dr. Dal-Bianco's main clinical focus is on the evaluation, management and treatment of patients with heart valve disease, with a special interest and expertise in mitral valve disease. This includes patients with mitral valve prolapse, mitral stenosis (a mitral valve that cannot open enough) and mitral regurgitation (a leaky mitral valve). Mitral regurgitation, also called mitral insufficiency or mitral incompetence, is common. When the mitral valve doesn't seal tightly, blood will flow backward in the heart, instead of forward. Patient symptoms can include shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations and swollen feet or ankles.
Dr. Dal-Bianco works closely with members of the MGH cardiac catheterization laboratory and cardiac surgery. He is an expert in advanced cardiac ultrasound techniques to guide the transcatheter, minimally invasive repair or replacement of diseased heart valves through a small incision in the groin or between the ribs (Mitral valve clip / MitraClip; TAVI / TAVR).
Cardiovascular Care at Mass General
At Mass General, our world-class physicians and nurses specialize in specific forms of both heart and vascular disease, and work closely together to offer leading treatments and preventive care for cardiovascular conditions.