Boise, ID – An 80-year-old man who otherwise could not undergo life-saving heart valve replacement surgery has become the first patient in Idaho to receive a new valve through a pioneering minimally-invasive procedure.
Saint Alphonsus Cardiothoracic Surgery Medical Director Dr. Robert Saeid Farivar did the procedure, A small incision was made in the left side of the patient’s chest, and a catheter was placed in the heart. The replacement valve was inserted through the catheter and then opened, much like a flower. Once open, it functions like a healthy mitral valve, which is a small flap in the heart that stops blood from flowing the wrong way. The procedure typically takes about 45 minutes to complete, and the patient can go home within a few days.
“Tendyne Mitral Valve Replacement by Abbott is an important tool we have to treat mitral valve disease at Saint Alphonsus, and we are ecstatic to be able to offer it to our patients,” said Dr. Farivar. “This allows mitral valve replacement in older and sicker patients who may not be surgical candidates.”
The procedure also allows doctors to implant the replacement valve without the need for a heart-lung machine or using traditional open-heart surgery. Dr. Farivar says the implant can result in less heart failure, fewer hospital admissions and a longer and higher quality of life.
Dr. Farivar performed the first Tendyne procedure in the United States in 2015 and has been Chairman of the Patient Selection Committee for the past three years.
Saint Alphonsus is one of approximately 80 hospitals in the United States, Canada and Europe participating in the Tendyne Mitral Valve System clinical trial.