Santa Maria hospital offers innovative cardiac procedure

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria is now offering qualified patients the innovative cardiac procedure of transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

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Marian interventional cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and cardiologists recently performed the first TAVR procedure. TAVR involves replacing an aortic valve that is not opening properly to better allow the heart to pump blood to the body. Before the FDA’s approval of TAVR, the only way to do this was through open heart surgery, and patients with narrowed aortic valves who did not wish to undergo surgery or were considered to be high risk for surgery had limited options.

“TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure that replaces the aortic valve in patients with severe aortic stenosis, a type of heart valve disease,” said Dr. Mansoor Arain, Marian Regional Medical Center interventional cardiologist. “This disease becomes more prevalent as we age, and TAVR can be an effective option not only to improve quality of life but to prolong life in such patients.

“Most patients are able to return home safely the next day, and the recovery is very straightforward. We have a great team with a lot of prior experience and are pleased to be able to offer this procedure to our community.”

Traditional open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve involves cutting open the chest. TAVR provides a much less invasive option with no opening of the chest necessary. TAVR uses a catheter to deliver a collapsible replacement valve to the site of the narrowed valve through a roughly quarter-inch incision in the groin. When the new valve has been expanded, it pushes the old valve leaflets out of the way and takes over regulating blood flow.

“The recent addition of TAVR to our already comprehensive cardiac program aligns with our commitment to providing stateof-the-art care to our community, and mitigates the need for heart patients to travel,” said Sue Andersen, Marian president and CEO. “In addition, we are able to provide a minimally invasive option for patients, which reduces recovery time and offers them improved survival rates and quality of life.” For more information, visit www.dignityhealth.org/ marianregional. email: mmcmahon@newspress. com