Study Finds Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery Safer
Study Finds Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery Safer Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. TAVR was first introduced into the U.S. in 2006; since then it has received FDA approval in stages. It was first used for valve replacement in inoperable patients, says Michael J. Mack, a heart surgeon at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital—Plano in Texas, and a principal investigator in one of the two TAVR trials discussed in the report. Then research “gradually worked down to patients considered at high risk for surgery, then to medium-risk patients and now to low-risk patients.” Doctors now perform about 60,000 TAVR procedures and about 50,000 surgical valve replacements every year in the U.S., Mack says. This new report summarizes trials of two different kinds of valves, sponsored by the heart-valve makers, where some patients received surgery and others TAVR. The fact that the studies found that TAVR was safer for the lowest-risk patients “was kind of a surprise to everyone,” Mack notes. “Everyone figured it would be pretty much the same.” The procedure will now need to be approved by the FDA for use in this group considered at low risk for surgical complications. But approval won’t mean that surgery will no longer be used for valve replacement; Mack estimates that 1 out of 4 patients are not candidates for TAVR, including those who have blockages in their leg arteries or have a particular kind of heart anatomy that makes the procedure too risky. He offers another caveat: The trials followed patients for only a year after the valve replacements, “and we really don’t know if [the TAVR] valves last as long as surgical valves.” All patients will now be followed for 10 years to find out how well they hold up. “It was a pretty compelling study,” he concludes, “but not the final answer.” AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS
Study Finds Safer Alternative to Heart Surgery
TAVR a less risky procedure may be better choice
ASSOCIATED PRESS — which involves opening the breastbone and stopping the heart while a new valve is sewed in to replace the old one.Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. TAVR was first introduced into the U.S. in 2006; since then it has received FDA approval in stages. It was first used for valve replacement in inoperable patients, says Michael J. Mack, a heart surgeon at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital—Plano in Texas, and a principal investigator in one of the two TAVR trials discussed in the report. Then research “gradually worked down to patients considered at high risk for surgery, then to medium-risk patients and now to low-risk patients.” Doctors now perform about 60,000 TAVR procedures and about 50,000 surgical valve replacements every year in the U.S., Mack says. This new report summarizes trials of two different kinds of valves, sponsored by the heart-valve makers, where some patients received surgery and others TAVR. The fact that the studies found that TAVR was safer for the lowest-risk patients “was kind of a surprise to everyone,” Mack notes. “Everyone figured it would be pretty much the same.” The procedure will now need to be approved by the FDA for use in this group considered at low risk for surgical complications. But approval won’t mean that surgery will no longer be used for valve replacement; Mack estimates that 1 out of 4 patients are not candidates for TAVR, including those who have blockages in their leg arteries or have a particular kind of heart anatomy that makes the procedure too risky. He offers another caveat: The trials followed patients for only a year after the valve replacements, “and we really don’t know if [the TAVR] valves last as long as surgical valves.” All patients will now be followed for 10 years to find out how well they hold up. “It was a pretty compelling study,” he concludes, “but not the final answer.” AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS