We Have OPTIONS for Your Heart
We are one of a select group of hospitals across the country to offer a promising, new
procedure — transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). If you are too high risk for
traditional open-heart surgery, or have previously been considered inoperable, TAVR may be
an option.
TAVR is a minimally invasive aortic valve replacement procedure that does not require openheart surgery. Please talk to your doctor about whether TAVR is right for you.
Learn more about TAVR and aortic stenosis:
What is TAVR?
TAVR is an alternative to open-heart surgery for patients who are considered high-risk or
inoperable. With TAVR, the valve is placed using a catheter while the heart continues to
beat and doesn’t require stopping the patient’s heart or hooking them up to a heart-lung
machine. The average time required to perform TAVR is one to two hours versus four hours
for open-heart surgery.
Recovery time is also faster. Trials of this minimally invasive procedure have shown impressive
results – with TAVR patients feeling better one month after surgery compared to open-heart
surgery patients. With TAVR, patients are hospitalized for 2 to 5 days versus open-heart
surgery where patients are hospitalized five to 10 days and can face up to four weeks of
recovery at home.