Diseased heart valve replaced through small chest incision
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 04:35
in Health & Medicine
When 91-year-old Irvin Lafferty was diagnosed with severe blockage of his heart valve - hardening that is formally known as aortic valve stenosis - open-heart surgery was out of the question. He'd already survived quadruple bypass while in his 50s, and having lived almost a century, Lafferty wasn't a good candidate for heart surgery for many reasons. His local cardiologist referred him to surgical and interventional specialists at Chicago's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital...