The multidisciplinary TAVR team had reason to celebrate this past week as they treated their 100th patient with the innovative, minimally-invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure. Heritage Valley Beaver is one of only five hospitals in Southwestern Pennsylvania to offer the revolutionary procedure.
During the TAVR procedure, a catheter from the groin is used to implant a new valve within a damaged heart valve in patients suffering from severe aortic stenosis. Because the procedure is less invasive than traditional surgery, there are considerable benefits for patients including a short hospital stay (usually 1 day), faster recovery time, quicker relief of symptoms and a lower risk of complications such as stroke. Procedures are done without general anesthesia.
The Heritage Valley Beaver TAVR program was initiated in April 2018 to offer a treatment option for high surgical risk patients who were not able to undergo open-heart surgery either due to advanced age or other factors. Since then, the procedure has been approved nationally for low-risk patients as a non-surgical treatment option.
“The TAVR program at Heritage Valley has expanded since its inception. We are now able to offer this breakthrough medical technology to most patients with aortic stenosis,” said Dr. Jasvinder Sandhu, Director, Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Heritage Valley Beaver. “It’s a great benefit that our patients and their families can receive high-quality innovative care within their community.”
For more information on the TAVR program at Heritage Valley Beaver click here.
 |
|
Pictured left to right are members of the Heritage Valley Beaver TAVR Team: Jasvinder Sandhu, MD, Director, Cardiac Catheterization Lab; Carrie Farrow, RN, TAVR Coordinator; Alvise Bernabei, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgeon; Christopher Morgan, DO, Interventional Cardiologist; and Dinesh Bhaskaran, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgeon. |