It's Topic Tuesday

Good morning everyone! We hope your week has been getting off to a great start so far.

Today we will be going over transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR/TAVI.

What is transcatheter aortic valve replacement?

The transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a procedure that replaces a diseased aortic valve with a man-made valve that is created from cow or pig tissue. TAVR (also called TAVI) is done to replace a narrowed and stiff aortic valve from a condition called aortic valve stenosis. 

Mayo Clinic

Aortic Valve Stenosis

Briefly, the aortic valve sits between the left lower heart chamber and the aorta, body's main artery. The valve problem blocks or slows blood flow from the heart to the body, causing not enough blood to travel to other organs of the body each time the heart contracts. If your valve becomes stiff, you have a condition called aortic stenosis. Your heart may have to work too hard to pump blood through the small valve opening to the rest of your body. This may lead to increasing heart failure. 

TAVR

For TAVR, a team led by an interventional cardiologist and cardiothoracic surgeon inserts a flexible tube called a catheter into a blood vessel (usually in the groin, chest, or wrist) and guides it into the heart to the site of the aortic valve using X-ray or other imaging tools as a guide. A balloon on the catheter tip inflates to push the new valve into place. Afterwards, the catheter is removed once the new valve is securely in place. Of note, an aortic valve replacement can also be performed surgically with open-heart surgery (SAVR).

Mayo Clinic

The benefit of TAVR is that it is minimally invasive, which means it uses smaller incisions than open-heart valve surgery. People who have TAVR often have a shorter hospital stay than those who have SAVR. It may be an option for people who can't have heart surgery to replace the aortic valve with SAVR. TAVR can help reduce symptoms of aortic valve stenosis including chest pain and shortness of breath.

If you have aortic stenosis, please consult your heart doctor and surgeon about possible options. This is meant to be a brief overview of TAVR. This is all we have for you this week for Topic Tuesday. Please join us back here next week.

Stay healthy,

Duc