Aortic Valve Stenosis is the third most common cardiovascular condition after Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease. Approximately 4% of the elderly population is affected with Aortic Stenosis and 2% of the total population is affected with malformed Aortic Valves at Birth.
Since 1960, the world has been evolving around treating Aortic disorders through various procedures. Aortic Stenosis is usually treated through conventional surgery.
Now, a revolutionary percutaneous interventional method called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) has been introduced. TAVR is a new, rare and advanced non-surgical percutaneous intervention procedure done in the Cath lab to replace aortic valves with a prosthetic aortic valve through a Catheter.
TAVR is a technique where the Aorta is accessed through femoral artery with the help of a Catheter and then an artificial valve is placed in the path of blood flow and dilated to implant the valve in the position of Collapsible Blood flow. In conventional surgical procedure, the Sternum is opened and the Collapsed Aortic Valve is removed and replaced with a new artificial valve. TAVR procedure results in reduced hospital stay and quicker recovery to normal activities.
In India, only few centres have adapted this procedure, as TAVR requires a team of experts like Interventional Cardiologists, Cardio-thoracic Surgeon, Anaesthetists, trained technicians, nurses and other staffs with high quality infrastructure.
In South Tamil Nadu, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai is the first hospital to adapt this rare procedure and is a pioneer in Percutaneous Aortic Valve Replacement.
The patient who is a 77 year old Male had undergone CABG Surgery earlier and presented to Dr. C. Vivek Bose, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai with severe breathlessness. He was diagnosed with Severe Aortic Valve Stenosis with severe LV dysfunction and LVEF of 30%. The patient was then evaluated by the team of experts which comprises Dr.Vivek Bose, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologists, Dr.V.Sridhar, Chief Consultant Cardio Thoracic Surgeon and Dr. Rikesh Pollavarapu, Consultant Cardiac Anaesthetist. Post evaluations, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement was decided upon, as the patient was at high risk for Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (SAVR).
TAVR was performed on the patient on 19th November 2016 by Dr.Vivek Bose, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist. He was assisted by Proctor Dr.Geza Fontos, Budapest, Hungary. The procedure lasted for about 1 hour. Dr.Rikesh Pollavarapu was the Cardiac Anaesthetist.
The result was excellent and the patient improved dramatically.
Dr. Rohini Sridhar, COO, Apollo Hospitals, Madurai Division said, “This is truly a revolution in the field of Interventional Cardiology in the region and as always Apollo Speciality Hospitals Madurai has pioneered the development in the field of Interventional Cardiology in the region”
