by
Robert Garment, Executive Editor | March 16, 2016
From the March 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Described by the American Heart Association as a minimally invasive surgical procedure, TAVR repairs a heart valve without removing the old, damaged valve by putting a replacement valve in the aortic valve’s place. Mitral stenosis is another condition that sometimes requires the replacement of a valve. Percutaneous valve therapies “have revolutionized the way we treat significant valvular disease,” says Freeman. While he’s not a surgeon, he has referred patients for these procedures and is confident about their efficacy — and is even more confident about their success because many of the devices to perform the procedures are now on their third or beyond generations.
He credits TAVR with helping to improve the lives of patients who would have been too frail to survive an open-heart procedure. Before this procedure was available, there would have been few options available to these patients. With the availability of TAVR, “we can actually fix their valve disease. It’s pretty amazing. In fact, it’s awe inspiring technology because it’s minimally invasive,” says Freeman.
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While as with any procedure, there’s always a risk of death, heart attack or stroke, he says the risks with percutaneous valve therapy are “acceptably low, especially when compared to open heart surgery.” Freeman notes that the procedures are costly and the long-term data are still pending in terms of their success rate. TAVR is now a lot easier, safer, requiring less recovery time and better available to frail patients, who previously couldn’t have had anything done.
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