The city based Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) has successfully conducted the first Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) on a 72-year old female patient.

This state-of-the-art procedure was done at KIMS by Cardiologist Dr. Anupam Jena and his team. Dr. Michael Caskey from USA helped the team in successfully performing the procedure. A 72-year old female patient was suffering from aortic valve narrowing and was complaining of chest pain and breathing difficulty. The patient was evaluated by a team of cardiologist and cardiac surgeon and was was declared unfit for an open heart surgery for being in the high risk zone.

She was advised to undergo Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). Subsequently, the patient underwent TAVR. She is doing well now and will be discharged in 2-3 days, hospital sources have infomed. TAVR or Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) is a minimally invasive procedure that repairs the Aortic valve without removing the old, damaged valve.

This procedure is fairly new and is FDA approved for people with symptomatic aortic stenos who are considered to be intermediate or high risk patients for standard valve replacement surgery. Usually valve replacement requires an open heart procedure with a “sternotomy”, in which the chest is surgically separated (open) for the procedure. The TAVR or TAVI procedures can be done through very small puncture in the femoral arteries at the groin leaving all the chest bones in place.