NewYork-Presbyterian. The University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell.

Cardiology

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

One of the most promising procedures for select patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve opening) is Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). TAVR allows doctors to implant a device into a heart valve without open surgery.

TAVR

TAVR procedure
(click to enlarge)
(credit: Edwards
Lifesciences)

During TAVR, surgeons insert a catheter into a blood vessel through a small incision in the patient's leg. They then guide it to the heart, where they carefully position the device in the valve and retract the catheter.

The patient remains under general anesthesia throughout the procedure and may be discharged from the hospital within 48 hours. There is no surgical wound beyond the small puncture mark where surgeons inserted the catheter. After the procedure, this is covered with a small adhesive strip.

NewYork-Presbyterian physicians were the principle investigators of the national clinical trials establishing the effectiveness of this minimally invasive procedure.