Until recently, the only way to treat moderate to severe structural heart abnormalities was through open heart surgery. Today, many FDA-approved medical advancements allow cardiologists to use nonsurgical, minimally invasive, and cardiac catherization procedures.
The Cardiac & Vascular Interventional Group is pleased to offer solutions to your structural heart ailments, as led by our highly skilled specialist Dr. Luis Bowen.
Structural heart procedures provided by CVIG include:
- Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR): Using catheter-based technology, TAVR positions a replacement aortic valve while the heart continues to beat. This eliminates the need for a long chest-wall incision and makes the use of a heart/lung bypass machine unnecessary. TAVR provides a shorter, more comfortable recovery period compared to surgical valve replacement.
- The WATCHMAN Device: This one-time, catheter-based procedure helps patients with atrial fibrillation reduce their risk of stroke, so they no longer need to take any blood-thinning medication on a daily basis. The procedure works by permanently implanting a device to block blood flow from going into the left atrial appendage so blood cannot pool during atrial fibrillation episodes, which prevents blood clot formation.
- Patent foramen ovale (PFO) transcatheter closure: This procedure repairs the PFO, a congenital heart defect in which a hole in the heart didn’t close at birth.