Minimally invasive procedures offer hope for elderly patients with heart-valve problems
Wednesday, October 8, 2014 - 23:30
in Health & Medicine
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is used to replace a critically narrowed aortic valve, the valve between the heart and the main artery in the body. TAVR patients' narrowed aortic valves prevent sufficient blood flow. The TAVR procedure is a less invasive treatment, alleviating the narrowing without the need for open-heart surgery. The procedure involving the MitraClip device repairs a valve between the upper and lower chambers of the left side of the heart, called the mitral valve. The MitraClip is, literally, a clip that pinches the two leafs of the mitral valve together in the center so there is less backflow of blood.