77-yr Man Undergoes TAVI Surgery for Aortic Valve Replacement

By Samachar Vishesh News

Chandigarh,30^th Jan, 2020:- A 77-yr man got a new lease of life after he underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure for severe calcific aortic stenosis at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mohali recently.

Max team consisted of Dr TP Singh, director cardiology and TAVI services and Dr Sudheer Saxena, senior director and head cardiology conducted TAVI procedure which is first in Max.

This patient was brought to Max with excessive breathlessness and fatigability. He was diagnosed to have severe calcific aortic stenosis, which is tightening of the valve of heart that supplies blood to whole body. Since he had other severe comorbid conditions like lung disease, he was very high risk for surgical aortic valve replacement and hence decision to perform a TAVI procedure was taken.

Dr TP Singh who is specially trained for TAVI procedure from Liverpool, UK informed that TAVI is transcatheter aortic valve implantation. This procedure avoids open heart surgery to replace aortic valve. This is very comfortable for patients and they are discharged after 2-3 days of procedure.

He further informed those elderly patients and those with comorbidities in whom open surgery is not possible or is risky are real candidates for this procedure. About 10% of patients who are elderly suffer from this valve problem and only option left for them was medical treatment and wait for death, as this severe aortic stenosis if not treated in time will eventually lead to death, informed Dr Singh.

Dr Sudheer Saxena said that due to tightening of wall and narrowing of orifice area, one gets breathlessness very easily. This patient was also suffering from interstitial lung disease and obstructive sleep apnea. The patient was earlier advised open heart surgery for replacement of aortic valve which was denied by surgeons in view of his obesity & lungs condition.

He asserted that due to the comorbidities, he was facing problem in getting proper treatment. Therefore, we planned aortic valve replacement without surgery i.e TAVI. He was discharged on third day & with very satisfactory clinical improvement. He underwent procedure very smoothly with backup team of cardiac surgeons & intensivists.