Experts at Mediclinic Successfully Treat a Heart Patient

A 68 year old local patient was successfully treated for a severe narrowing in aortic valve opening using an innovative minimally invasive technique at Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital.

The aortic valve is the main valve in the heart which allows oxygen – rich blood to flow from the heart into the main artery in the body (the aorta). Therefore a stenosis or narrowing here can be life threatening if left untreated.

The patient visited the hospital seeking other alternatives to open heart surgery, which is traditionally used to treat patients with similar heart conditions. In response to his request, a multi-disciplinary team comprising a consultant cardiac surgeon, interventional cardiologists and cardiologists discussed the case thoroughly and gave the patient the option to undergo a less invasive procedure known as trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

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Dr. Mohammed Andron, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Head of Cardiology and Cardiac Catheterization Unit at Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital, said: “TAVI is an innovative procedure designed to replace the function of the calcified valve using an artificial one without the need to remove the diseased valve.”

Dr. Andron added: “This procedure is usually given to candidates who are at a high risk of open heart surgery as an alternative to this demanding operation. It is now more commonly offered even to lower risk cases due to its effectiveness and dramatically less invasive nature.”

After taking extensive precautions, a two hour procedure was performed under general anesthesia by Dr Andron and his team of heart specialists at Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital.

An advanced catheter was inserted through a very small access point, which is less than 1cm, in the right femoral artery in the groin all the way up to the diseased valve.

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The narrowed valve was then opened with a special balloon, after which the artificial valve was implanted inside the existing valve which pushed the calcification to the sides and started functioning as the new lifesaving valve.

The patient left the hospital three days following the procedure in very good condition and his symptoms, which included breathlessness, have fully resolved.

This technique offered the patient many advantages over the conventional surgery including a decreased length of stay in the hospital, faster recovery time, lower risk of infection and significantly smaller access point, among many others.

According to Dr. Olivier Jegaden, Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at Mediclinic Airport Road who has extensive experience in TAVI and in cardiac valve surgery "TAVI is becoming a new standard to treat aortic valve stenosis especially in patients who are above 65 years old”.