Valparaiso, IN – One hundred reasons to celebrate! This month, Porter Regional Hospital's multidisciplinary TAVR team celebrated treating its 100th patient with this innovative, minimally invasive procedure.
Using TAVR, or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, specialists are able to repair a diseased or damaged aortic valve for seriously ill heart patients who are at too high a risk for traditional valve replacement surgery.
With the expertise of cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Walid Khabbaz and interventional cardiologists Dr. Sandeep Sehgal and Dr. Anshuman Das, the new valve is inserted through a catheter and can begin to regulate blood flow.
For patients who are not candidates for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), which remains the gold standard treatment, TAVR can be life changing.
Physicians place a surgical heart valve on the end of a catheter, and thread the catheter through the femoral artery in the thigh, up to the heart. The new valve is expanded in place of the diseased valve, and the catheter is removed. The procedure is done with high-tech image-guided equipment that enables the team to see inside the body without making large incisions.
Porter Regional Hospital is one of the few hospitals in Indiana capable of performing TAVR procedures.
The hospital is an accredited chest pain center, is certified in atrial fibrillation, has a Get With the Guidelines Heart Failure Gold-Plus designation, is a designated Blue Distinction Center+ for Cardiac Care, is certified in advanced heart failure by The Joint Commission, is a Primary Stroke Center, and is certified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation.
Porter Regional Hospital has resumed some surgeries and other procedures. To learn how the hospital is providing
COVID-safe care visit: https://www.porterhealth.com/covid-19
