COVER FEATURE
At the Front of Heart Care
THE NEW YORK HEART ASSOCIATION FUNCTIONAL
CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM PLACES PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM AORTIC STENOSIS ON THE HIGH/SEVERE END OF ITS SCALE, REFLECTING THE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT THE
DISEASE HAS ON PATIENTS' LIVES. AT UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM, THOSE SAME PATIENTS ARE EXPERIENCING A SIGNIFICANT JUMP UP THE SCALE AS THE NEW TRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT (TAVR)
PROCEDURE OFFERS A MINIMALLY INVASIVE SOLUTION TO THE DEBILITATING CONDITION.
IN UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM:
2002, ALAIN CRIBIER, M.D., a French surgeon, became the first to perform an aortic valve replacement
via the transcatheter approach, and the technology grew from there. The SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve — developed by Edwards Lifesciences — earned approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2011. After several clinical trials in both Europe and the United States, the SAPIEN valve is now available at select sites for the treatment of patients with severe
