TAVR
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Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) is an alternative treatment option to traditional open-heart surgery for patients with aortic valve disease. It is a minimally invasive procedure in which a new aortic valve can be replaced with a balloon catheter technique.
Aortic valve disease means the valve between the lower left heart chamber (left ventricle) and the body’s main artery (aorta) is not functioning properly. There are two ways in which it may malfunction:
- Stenosis – a build-up of calcium that prevents the valve from opening properly, which prevents normal blood flow to the body.
- Regurgitation – the valve is not closing properly, causing blood to leak back into the heart.
TAVR is a minimally invasive treatment option for patients with debilitating symptoms of severe aortic stenosis and are at moderate to high risk of complications from open-heart surgery. Some factors that contribute to a patient’s surgical risk may include age, frailty, heart function, lung disease or previous heart surgery.
The decision to treat your aortic valve disease with TAVR will be made after a comprehensive evaluation by a team of heart specialists. If left unmonitored or untreated, aortic valve disease can be increasingly dangerous to your health.
What to Expect
Patients who undergo a TAVR procedure for aortic stenosis, avoid a large surgical incision through the breastbone. Under anesthesia, the physician will insert a catheter (thin, flexible tube) into an artery normally found in the groin or chest. Using advanced technology, the catheter will carry and attach the new aortic valve to the old. Once it is securely attached to the aortic valve, the catheter will be removed. Following the procedure, patients will be monitored in the hospital for approximately 24-48 hours.