Too much salt in your diet can cause fluid to build up, forcing your heart to work harder. Following a low-salt diet will help your heart work more efficiently and place less stress on your heart valve. It may even keep you out of the hospital.

The following tips can help you lower your salt intake and keep your diet heart healthy:

Read food labels:

• Choose any food in which the sodium (salt) content is 8 per cent or less per serving.

Reduce salt in cooking and avoid adding salt at the table:

• Replace salt with fresh or dried herbs, lemon juice, flavoured vinegars and unsalted spices (try Mrs. Dash® or McCormick’s® salt-free spice blends)
• Rinse canned vegetables before using them in cooking

Prepare meals using fresh ingredients:

• Use fresh or frozen foods whenever possible
• Aim for a variety of foods from each food group every day
• Use canola or olive oils instead of hydrogenated or trans fats
• Get plenty of fibre, with whole grains and unsalted nuts and seeds

For more information about how to manage salt and fluid, see the Heart Failure Guide.

You will be given an appointment to see either your cardiologist or your cardiac surgeon about one month after your MitraClip procedure. You will have another echocardiogram on the day of this appointment.

We will arrange another echocardiogram at six months and one year post-procedure. You may be seen in clinic at this time as well. Every yearly anniversary of your procedure date, we will conduct follow-up evaluations of your MitraClip device with further echocardiogram screenings. These will be done at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.