Chennai: TAVR procedure done on patient suffering from aortic stenosis

Chennai: Hemalatha, a 75-year-old woman from Bombay, had a successful TAVR done under local anaesthesia and without open surgery, for the first time in Chennai at Frontier Lifeline Hospital recently.

The patient was suffering from aortic stenosis, a condition where there is constriction of the main valve (Aortic Valve) that controls the blood pumped out of heart to rest of the body. When patients become symptomatic with severe Aortic Stenosis the risk of mobility is as high as 50 per cent over next two years. The only definitive treatment until recently was open heart surgery to replace the diseased valve.

The Trans Catheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) is a new procedure that involves replacing the diseased valve by placing a new valve through a tube that is placed through the blood vessel in the groin or under the collarbone without open surgery.

“More than 30 per cent of elderly patients with multiple other co-mortifies like lung condition, renal failure, stroke and arthritis are not considered for surgery until the lower risk alternative solution has become available. This allows them to live longer with a better quality in health,” says cardiologist Dr R Anantharaman.