Patient Age: 74 Years 

Gender: Female

Condition:  Problem in Heart Aortic Valve

Treatment: TAVR

Country: Yemen

Doctor: Dr Ashok Seth│ Chairman & Chief Cardiologist

Hospital: Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, New Delhi

A 74 years old patient with heart aortic valve disorder and diabetes was struggling to live another year in Yemen. Her family searched the internet for treatments which can potentially help her condition and found TAVR to be appropriate. On researching about TAVR, they discovered that it was pioneered by Dr Ashok Seth at Fortis Escorts Heart Hospital in India, and decided to go there.

Fortis Escorts Heart Institute is the best heart surgery Hospital in India, which also introduced TAVI.

“It is a condition called aortic stenosis, with calcification, and it occurs in the elderly. Sometimes the valve gets a lot of calcium deposit and therefore is not able to open, so the blood doesn’t get to the rest of the body. There is back pressure on the lungs. People feel the breathless, and if it is allowed to progress the survival after, severe aortic stenosis is only a couple of years, and most people will die in a matter of two to three years if left untreated,” said Dr Ashok Seth.

He added that this problem occurs “as people age, and they have bad kidney or lungs, an operation becomes a risky option. So, we have a scenario, in which a person is gradually deteriorating and becoming breathless with a possibility in dying in two to three years. Yet Surgery becomes a high-risk option than that.”

He further added that TAVR is a non-operative therapy, “done through a catheter, by opening the old valve and implanting a fresh valve without an operation. It is a very complicated procedure which helps the patients in recovering faster as there is no need for surgery.

The 74-year-old patient underwent surgery TAVR and was able to recover well after the procedure. TAVR has become a new hope for patients with complicated heart conditions.