TAVI PROCEDURE FOR AORTIC STENOSIS AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE PATIENTS

Jessie McPherson Private Hospital is one of a select few private hospitals accredited as a TAVI Hospital, this means that we are able to offer an alternative to open heart surgery for aortic stenosis patients.

WHAT IS AORTIC STENOSIS?

Aortic stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve, which restricts the flow of blood from the left ventricle of the heart into the aorta.

The aortic valve opens when the heart contracts to pump oxygenated blood from the left ventricle into the aorta, the body’s main artery. If this valve is narrowed, it means that the heart can no longer pump blood efficiently – it needs to work harder to pump blood around your body. It also creates high blood pressure inside the left ventricle.

In response to the extra workload, the muscle of the left ventricle thickens (concentric hypertrophy) and the chamber itself may eventually balloon out.

Symptoms can include:

breathlessness
breathing problems worsened by physical activity
coughing at night when lying down in bed
fainting
heart palpitations
pains in the chest, from the heart (angina)
fatigue
visual problems

You can learn more about aortic stenosis here.

WHAT IS A TAVI PROCEDURE?

TAVI stands for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.

This minimally invasive surgical procedure repairs the valve without removing the old, damaged valve. Instead, it wedges a replacement valve into the aortic valve’s place.

Somewhat similar to a stent placed in an artery, the TAVI approach delivers a fully collapsible replacement valve to the valve site through a catheter. Once the new valve is expanded, it pushes the old valve leaflets out of the way and the tissue in the replacement valve takes over the job of regulating blood flow.

The TAVI procedure also provides the added bonus of a faster recovery in most cases. A patient’s experience with a TAVI procedure may be comparable to a balloon treatment or even an angiogram in terms of down time and recovery, and will likely require a shorter hospital stay.

TAVI Patient

WHY WOULD I NEED A TAVI?

The TAVI procedure may be recommended if you have been diagnosed with aortic stenosis but are deemed too high risk for open heart surgery.

WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF CHOOSING JESSIE MCPHERSON PRIVATE?

Jessie McPherson Private Hospital is one of a select few private hospitals accredited as a ‘TAVI Hospital’ and we are fortunate enough to have two MonashHeart Cardiologists, Dr Robert Gooley and Dr Liam McCormick accredited as TAVI Doctors.

Dr Gooley and Dr McCormick are Interventional Cardiologists who specialise in the area of Structural Heart Disease and, in particular TAVI procedures, and choose Jessie McPherson Private to care for their private patients.

Due to our co-location with Monash Medical Centre in Clayton we are in a unique position allowing us to utilise the comprehensive range of specialist services that Monash Health’s state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities has to offer, including the team and facilities at MonashHeart.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

If you’re a GP looking to make a referral or find out more you can contact the Structural Heart Disease Clinical Nurse Coordinator on (03) 9594 4335, or email structuralheart@monashhealth.org

If you’re a patient or family member and would like to learn more about aortic stenosis click here to learn more about the cardiology services we offer through MonashHeart click here.