Doctors at Apollo Speciality Hospitals here have recently performed Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR), a minimally invasive aortic valve replacement procedure, on a 77-year-old man with aortic stenosis.
The doctors claimed that, apart from Chennai and Coimbatore, this was the first time TAVR was performed elsewhere in Tamil Nadu. Aortic stenosis refers to narrowing of the tricuspid aortic valve in the heart, resulting in reduced flow of oxygenated blood to body parts.
C. Vivek Bose, Senior Interventional Cardiologist at the hospital, said the condition was normally treated through Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (SAVR), an open-heart surgery to remove the aortic valve and replace it with a artificial valve.
“On the contrary, TAVR, which has gained popularity in the USA and Europe since 2012, involves implanting the prosthetic aortic valve through a catheter inserted via the femoral artery in the leg. This is somewhat similar to implanting a stent through angioplasty for patients with coronary artery disease,” Dr. Bose said.
He said that, unlike SAVR, TAVR does not involve removal of the existing aortic valve. The prosthetic valve is instead wedged in place of the existing valve by placing it in the exact position of the passage of blood flow in the valve and then dilating it.
Dr. Bose said that since the patient in this case was old and had already undergone a heart bypass surgery in 2011, the doctors’ team decided to perform a TAVR. “The procedure was over in an hour and the patient requires less hospitalisation, as is the case with other interventional procedures,” he added.
He highlighted that in western countries, TAVR was being increasingly used even for people of younger age. Pointing out that the prosthetic valve used in TAVR costed around Rs. 15 lakh, he said that it may go down once the procedure gained popularity.
“It may, however, take some time since the procedure, for which precision is utmost important, requires high-end equipment and well-trained doctors,” he said.
