A new option for hope: Daytona Beach team performs groundbreaking heart procedure

For many people with complex heart valve issues, open-heart surgery isn’t possible. That often means many live with symptoms that worsen over time, with limited options for treatment.

A new procedure at AdventHealth Daytona Beach is changing that, offering some patients a second chance at life. The procedure, called LAMPOON, short for Laceration of the Anterior Mitral leaflet to Prevent Outflow Obstruction, allows physicians to replace a diseased mitral valve using a catheter instead of open-heart surgery.

“This is an important step forward for our patients,” said interventional cardiologist Dr. Dinesh Arab after performing the hospital’s first LAMPOON procedure. “For some, traditional surgery carries too much risk. The LAMPOON technique lets us perform a transcatheter mitral valve replacement safely for patients who otherwise would have no treatment options.”

Mitral valve disease affects one of the heart’s key valves that controls blood flow between chambers. In high-risk patients – such as older adults or those with chronic conditions such as lung or kidney disease – replacing that valve can sometimes block the heart’s main outflow tract. The LAMPOON procedure prevents that complication by precisely dividing part of the existing valve before the new one is implanted, keeping blood flowing normally.

In plain terms, it’s an innovative, less invasive way to treat patients once considered untreatable – reducing risk, speeding recovery, and helping them return to normal life sooner.

“Until recently, many of these patients would have been told there was nothing more we could do,” said Dr. David Sinclair, president and CEO of AdventHealth Daytona Beach. “Now, the same level of advanced heart care people once traveled hours to receive is available right here in our community. That’s life-changing for our patients and their families.”

Heart disease is one of the top health challenges in Volusia County. With leading-edge procedures like LAMPOON now available locally, patients no longer have to travel far to access complex cardiac treatments — another sign of how the hospital is expanding access to advanced care close to home.

For patients and physicians alike, this procedure represents more than medical progress.

“Procedures like LAMPOON expand what’s possible,” he said. “They restore not just heart function, but hope – and that’s what healing is all about.”