New York, April 04: An experimental, minimally invasive procedure for replacing heart valves by a catheter matches the success of conventional open-heart surgery.
The new technique called transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) involves replacing a heart valve via an artery in the leg or directly through a tiny incision into the left ventricle of the heart.
The procedure developed by Edwards Lifesciences Corp is technically similar to a balloon angioplasty to clear clogged coronary arteries.
The study of nearly 700 high-risk, elderly patients showed that the new method was as effective as open-heart surgery with a similar death rate.
However, the patients undertaking the new approach had twice the number of major strokes as those who had surgery.
“Strokes were significantly more frequent” in people who had the new procedure, reported Craig Smith, a lead author from New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Patients who had the new procedure also suffered more major damage to blood vessels.
However, the researchers believe that the benefits outweigh the side effects because findings showed that TAVI actually bested standard medical therapy among patients who were too sick to undergo open-heart surgery.
The new findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, in New Orleans.
If winning the approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the new technique could be used in patients who can’t undertake valve replacement through open heart surgery because their health is too frail to withstand the traditional procedure.
——–Agencies