Can An Aortic Valve Be Repaired

I important reason to rail whatsoever possible valve affliction-related symptoms and get regular bank check-ups – especially as we age – is to ensure any developing valve problems can be identified and treated equally soon equally possible.

Medications can be prescribed to increase the heart'due south ability to pump blood which may help compensate for a valve that isn't working correctly. Nevertheless, a diseased heart valve is a mechanical trouble that can't exist fixed with medication alone. Surgery is often needed to repair or replace the damaged valve. Untreated valve affliction may lead to decreased heart function and limit future treatment options. It's important to discuss whatever symptoms with your health care provider.

What if open up-heart surgery is too risky for me?

TAVR animation

There's skillful news if you lot or someone you beloved needs a new eye valve and you lot take been told open up-heart surgery is too risky. People with astringent aortic stenosis may be good candidates for a less invasive replacement called a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), also called transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). If yous have mitral regurgitation, yous may exist a candidate for transcatheter mitral valve repair, also known as transcatheter border-to-edge repair (TEER).

Sentinel an animation of TAVR.

TAVI for Aortic Stenosis

This minimally invasive process is similar to placing a stent within an artery. A catheter, a thin wire or tube, is threaded through an artery to the diseased valve and a new valve is placed inside the quondam valve. Some implanted valves are "spring-loaded" and expand themselves. Others are expanded using a balloon. Once the new valve is expanded, information technology pushes the one-time valve leaflets out of the way and the replacement valve takes over the job of regulating blood flow.

The TAVI process is performed using 1 of several approaches, allowing the cardiologist or surgeon to choose the best and safest way to access the valve. The two most common approaches are transfemoral and transapical:

Transfemoral: enters through the femoral artery (large artery in the groin), which does not crave a surgical incision in the breast, or
Transapical: uses a minimally invasive surgical approach with a small incision in the chest and enters the heart through the tip of the left ventricle called the noon.

Options for aortic stenosis treatment chart

Download Aortic Stenosis: Considerations for Replacing Your Aortic Valve (PDF)

Transcatheter Border-to-Edge Repair (TEER) for Mitral Regurgitation

During this minimally invasive procedure, doctors access the mitral valve with a thin tube (called a catheter) that is guided through a vein in your leg to reach your heart.

A small, implanted clip is attached to your mitral valve to help it close more completely. This helps to restore normal claret menstruum through your centre.

Although minimally invasive procedures are not without risks, they provide beneficial treatment options to people who would not have been considered for valve replacement. A patient's experience with TAVI or TEER may be comparable to a coronary angiogram in terms of recovery. You'll likely accept a shorter hospital stay after TAVI or TEER compared to a surgical valve procedure.

Are in that location other types of minimally invasive repairs or replacement options?

Yeah. At that place are other minimally invasive valve surgery techniques including video-assisted surgery, robotic-assisted surgery or surgeries performed with an endoscope. Your health care squad will discuss bachelor treatment options for your valve status. Together yous can choose what's best for you.

What are the benefits and considerations for a TAVI or other minimally invasive procedure?

Benefits of minimally invasive treatment options may include:

Lower take a chance of infection
Less trauma to the chest and heart muscle tissue
Reduced length of infirmary stay
Decreased recovery time

Of form, everyone wants less pain and a shorter recovery time. Simply anybody also wants the all-time possible outcome and the longest, healthiest life every bit a issue. Those factors forth with a person'south historic period, health history, blazon and severity of the valve trouble and overall health will gene into selecting the best surgical choice for any patient.

Why doesn't everyone become a minimally invasive procedure?

Your goal — and the goal of your wellness care team — is to get the best and safest treatment possible for you lot. That means tailoring the treatment to your heart, your valve affliction, your age, your general health and other factors unique to you. Considering we're all dissimilar, not anybody with the same kind of valve affliction needs the aforementioned kind of repair, the same kind or size of replacement valve, or the same approach.

Exist sure to download our surgery checklist (PDF)(link opens in new window) (besides available in Castilian (PDF)) and recovery tracker (PDF)(link opens in new window) (also available in Spanish (PDF)) to help you fix for the possible experience every bit you lot begin the journey toward feeling improve.

Is there fiscal assistance available for people in need of TAVI or TEER?

TAVI and TEER are approved and bachelor for qualifying patients receiving Medicare and Medicaid. More than information is bachelor on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website(link opens in new window). Acquire more than about health care laws and regime programs seeking to provide affordable coverage at the HealthCare.gov website(link opens in new window). The Heart Valve CareLine can help you navigate the insurance and medical globe as information technology relates to your diagnosis.

Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed past science and medicine advisers. Run across our editorial policies and staff.