The procedure, called transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), has been reserved mostly for patients so old and sick they might not survive open-heart surgery. It might even be better, offering lower risks of disabling strokes and death, compared to open-heart surgery. In open-heart surgery, a patient’s ribs are cracked apart and the heart is stopped to insert the new aortic valve. From now on, “we will be very selective” about who gets open-heart surgery, said Mack, a principal investigator in one of the trials. Some healthier patients will still need the traditional surgery — for example, those born with two flaps to the aortic valve instead of the usual three.

Source: bd News24 March 17, 2019 08:48 UTC