The Most Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement
Posted Sep 24 2010 5:21pm
photo by jscreationzs
Aortic Stenosis Fixed With A Poke Of The Needle?
From my earlier post you will see that there have been several new advances reported this week in cardiology. The biggest one by far is a study called TAVI or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation. This new study has reported some great results with implanting a brand new aortic valve through a simple needlestick during a heart catheterization .
As people get older, the aortic valve frequently becomes hard and narrowed. This condition is called aortic stenosis . Aortic stenosis is considered severe when the valve area is less than 1cm². Greater than 4% of patients over age 85 have aortic stenosis but unfortunately they are considered a poor candidate for traditional open heart surgery to replace the valve by that age. A recent option for older patients has been balloon angioplasty of the valve by heart catheterization but this gives poor results and adds less than a year of optimal results.
The new TAVI study has shown that a prosthetic aortic valve can actually be placed safely over the old, hardened valve by a simple needlestick during heart catheterization. The results of the study show significant improvement in valve function and much fewer deaths one year after the procedure. To see a video of this type of procedure, check out the following link:
photo by jscreationzs
Aortic Stenosis Fixed With A Poke Of The Needle?
From my earlier post you will see that there have been several new advances reported this week in cardiology. The biggest one by far is a study called TAVI or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation. This new study has reported some great results with implanting a brand new aortic valve through a simple needlestick during a heart catheterization .
As people get older, the aortic valve frequently becomes hard and narrowed. This condition is called aortic stenosis . Aortic stenosis is considered severe when the valve area is less than 1cm². Greater than 4% of patients over age 85 have aortic stenosis but unfortunately they are considered a poor candidate for traditional open heart surgery to replace the valve by that age. A recent option for older patients has been balloon angioplasty of the valve by heart catheterization but this gives poor results and adds less than a year of optimal results.
The new TAVI study has shown that a prosthetic aortic valve can actually be placed safely over the old, hardened valve by a simple needlestick during heart catheterization. The results of the study show significant improvement in valve function and much fewer deaths one year after the procedure. To see a video of this type of procedure, check out the following link: