Cover Story Lake charles memorial receives nation’s first TAVR certification Lake Charles Memorial’s Heart & Vascular team is leading the nation once again by becoming the first, out of 645 programs nationwide, to receive the prestigious certification by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). The TAVR procedure is a less invasive option to replace diseased aortic valves without open heart surgery. Memorial’s TAVR team – led by Cardiovascular/ Thoracic Surgeon J. Gregory Lugo, MD, and Interventional Cardiologists Edward Bergen, DO, and Christopher Thompson, MD – received the certification by implementing best practices and achieving quality outcomes. Aortic stenosis occurs when calcium builds up within the aortic valve, limiting the valve’s ability to open and close. As the condition progresses, the valve opening narrows, obstructing blood flow and forcing the heart to pump harder. The progression of aortic stenosis cannot be reversed or stopped but requires surgical intervention to treat. Studies show that the survival rate of aortic stenosis without intervention is as low as 50 percent at two years after the onset of symptoms. TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure, in which the bioprosthetic valve is crimped onto a catheter over a balloon. The catheter (a long, thin, flexible tube), is then inserted through the femoral artery in the groin and advanced to the heart for implantation. When the valve is positioned inside the existing aortic valve, the balloon is inflated, and the new valve is immediately operable. This procedure doesn’t require removal of the existing valve, as the valve leaflets act as an anchor for the new valve.
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TAVR is a minimally invasive valve replacement procedure.
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