COvEr+
FEaTurE
Regions Hospital —
DiSTiNGUiShED By DEPTh oF
ExPERiENCE iN VAlVE REPAiR
by Marian Deegan
Johannes brechtken, MD,
begins the process of TAvR
device insertion.
U
6
| Twin Cities MD News
■ mDnews.com
Even the slowest walking pace left her
gasping for breath.
Then in October 2012, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approved the Edwards SAPIEN heart
valve for the treatment of severe symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients
deemed unsuitable for surgery.
For patients such as Alice, the FDA's
approval of the Edwards SAPIEN heart
valve offered much-needed hope. The
transcatheter aortic valve replacement
(TAVR) procedure delivers the valve
via a catheter inserted into the body,
usually through the femoral artery in
the leg. Once positioned in the diseased
aortic valve, the Edwards SAPIEN
heart valve is expanded with a balloon
and functions in place of the patient's
failing valve.
PhoTo © DAviD GiNsbeRG
did
not have much to offer cardiac patients such as Alice. At
83 years old, she suffered from
aortic stenosis, complicated by severe
Parkinson's disease and other medical
issues that made traditional surgery
too dangerous. The slow failure of her
aortic valve rendered her debilitated,
breathless and confined to her room.
ntil Recently, meDicine
