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In the last 15 years, transcatheter valve replacement has emerged as a different way to implant tissue valves, used almost exclusively for aortic valve stenosis. This procedure, called transcatheter aortic valve replacement or TAVR, avoids the need for a sternotomy and often has a much shorter hospital stay.
During the procedure, a surgeon removes the narrowed aortic valve and replaces it with a mechanical valve or a tissue valve. Valve replacement generally is performed during open-heart surgery. But, a less invasive approach, called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, is another option. In TAVR, doctors insert a catheter into an ...
The use of bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement has increased significantly during the past decade. Among its advantages is that most patients can avoid warfarin for anticoagulation treatment. Even so, research has been conflicting on whether patients would benefit from more aggressive early postoperative anticoagulation treatment.
In his first year of medical school, he saw his first transcatheter aortic valve replacement, something he says he hadn't even known was possible. "Structural cardiology, particularly the advancements in percutaneous valvular interventions, represents some of the most exciting and cutting-edge work in all of medicine," he says.
James, who holds a master's degree in nursing and worked for 35 years at the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Hospital, knew there were less invasive valve replacement procedures that did not require open-chest surgery. But minimally invasive aortic valve replacement is technically challenging and offered by few surgeons.
Aortic valve calcification is a condition in which calcium deposits form on the aortic valve in the heart. These deposits can cause narrowing at the opening of the aortic valve. This narrowing can become severe enough to reduce blood flow through the aortic valve — a condition called aortic valve stenosis. Aortic valve calcification may […]
Patients with dental extractions before cardiac surgery still at risk for poor outcomes, study finds Rochester, Minn. — Feb. 27, 2014 — To pull or not to pull? That is a common question when patients have the potentially dangerous combination of abscessed or infected teeth and the need for heart surgery. In such cases, problem teeth […]
Blood flows through the aortic valve to exit the heart, and supplies oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body. The normal aortic valve has three leaflets, also known as cusps. Some people can be born with one, two or even four cusps of their aortic valve. The most common of these abnormalities is an aortic valve with two cusps — thus, a ...
During aortic valve replacement, a surgeon removes the damaged valve and replaces it with a mechanical valve, or one made from cow, pig or human heart tissue. The valve replacement may be done through traditional open-heart surgery, also called a midline sternotomy, which involves an incision in the middle of the chest and dividing the sternum ...
The mitral valve is in the left side of the heart — the side that receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pumps it to the rest of the body. Located between the upper left chamber (left atrium) and the lower left chamber (left ventricle), the mitral valve has flaps that open and close once during each heartbeat to allow blood to pass ...