Maimonides uses trailblazing procedure to help heart patients
Cardiac patients who are considered too high-risk to undergo traditional heart valve replacement surgery are getting a new lease on life, thanks to doctors at the Maimonides Heart & Vascular Center, who are using an innovative procedure to save them.
The transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, involves the treatment of severe aortic stenosis (a narrowing of the aortic valve opening).
Instead of standard open-heart surgery, a balloon catheter is placed in the femoral artery and guided into the heart. A compressed heart valve is then placed in the catheter and positioned directly inside the diseased aortic valve. Once in position, the balloon is inflated to secure the valve in place.
Maimonides Medical Center, which runs the Heart & Vascular Center at 4802 10th Ave. in Borough Park, was one of the first hospitals in the US to offer the TAVR procedure, according to Dr. Jacob Shani, chairman of cardiology at Maimonides.