High-Risk Patients Now Eligible for Transcatheter Heart Valve Replacements

Following recent approval by the FDA, the hospital is now using leading edge surgery for high risk patients as well as inoperable patients  

Holy Cross Hospital is now performing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures for patients who have been deemed too high-risk to undergo open heart surgery.  The implantations are now done transfemorally (via the leg) and transapically (through the ribs). 

The announcement came following an approval by the Food and Drug Administration that considerably broadens the group that can now be treated with the leading-edge surgical procedure.  Previously, it was approved in the U.S. only for the treatment of inoperable patients via the transfemoral approach. 

“There can be many factors which bar a patient from cardiac surgery or make it a high risk such as age, inability to withstand rehabilitation and other medical conditions the patient may have,” said Interventional Cardiologist Joshua Purow, M.D., of the Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Center and Research Institute at Holy Cross Hospital. “Now more patients will have access to this life-changing procedure."  

In May 2012, Holy Cross began utilizing the new Edwards Lifesciences' Sapien heart valve, the only FDA-approved TAVR therapy in the U.S.  The valve is designed to replace a patient’s diseased native aortic valve without the need for open-chest surgery and without stopping the patient’s heart.  

The TAVR procedure enables the placement of a collapsible aortic heart valve into the body via a tube based delivery system that is inserted through either an incision in the leg and threaded up to the heart, or through an incision between the ribs and inserted through the narrow, bottom end of the heart called the apex.  

To accommodate TAVR implantations, Holy Cross constructed a new, 2,000-square-foot hybrid interventional operating room. The expansive operating room offers physicians advanced technology to perform leading-edge procedures, including endovascular stent (abdominal & thoracic), balloon valvuplasty, lead extraction, surgical cardiac ablation, bypass LAD with stent, and ASD & PFO closures. 

Recognized as a leader in cardiac care, Holy Cross Hospital offers comprehensive cardiac services through the Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Center and progressive research at the Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Research Institute.   

The Valve and Structural Heart Disease Clinic at the Holy Cross Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Center, located at 4725 North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, provides multi-disciplinary evaluation for patients with severe aortic stenosis by a team of cardiovascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, echo cardiologist and imaging specialists. The Clinic’s comprehensive evaluation includes a functional assessment, transesophageal echocardiography, CT angiography with a 256-slice scanner and cardiac angiography.  The team gathers weekly to discuss each patient’s medical status and makes a recommendation on the most appropriate treatment option: traditional open-heart or minimally invasive surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or medical management.    For more information call (954) 229-7974 or visit www.holycrossheart.com.