TAVR

Minimally Invasive Procedure for Aortic Valve Replacement

TAVR, or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, is a way to replace the aortic valve in your heart without open-heart surgery.

Our team is highly experienced in TAVR procedures and has performed more than 500 as of 2022. St. Luke’s has earned a distinguished three-star rating from the TVT Registry, which tracks patient safety and procedure outcomes. The three-star rating denotes the highest category of quality. We’re in the elite 4% to 8% of programs in the country to receive a three-star rating. We work collaboratively to provide you the best and safest patient care available.

What to Expect From Your TAVR Procedure

Your heart valve care team will include an interventional cardiologist (a specialist in catheter procedures) and a cardiothoracic surgeon who work together to replace your aortic valve using a thin, flexible tube called a catheter. Your team will thread this catheter through a small incision in the leg artery or in the chest wall.  Unlike traditional open-heart surgery, your doctors won’t need to stop your heart or put you on a bypass machine.

The catheter lets your surgeon guide the replacement valve up to your heart and through the old aortic valve. Once the new valve is in place, your surgeon will expand the old one and remove the catheter.

The most common condition we use TAVR to treat is aortic stenosis, which happens when the aortic valve becomes blocked or narrowed and can’t pump blood to the rest of your body.

Get Back to Doing What You Love

Patients who have undergone minimally invasive procedures such as TAVR are usually able to return home faster and recover quicker than if they had open-heart surgery. Because your heart is no longer struggling to pump blood to the rest of your body, the shortness of breath and fatigue many patients struggle with goes away. Your heart valve team is here to help you get back to feeling more like your old self and back to the activities you enjoy.