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Structural Heart Program Reaches Milestone

January 23, 2023 | Reading Time: < 1 minute

Huntsville Hospital’s Structural Heart Team achieved an important milestone on Jan. 10, 2023, by performing its 1,000th Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedure.

Only a handful of TAVR programs in Alabama and surrounding states have reached the millennial mark.

The first TAVR at Huntsville Hospital was completed on Aug. 12, 2014. Since then, the program has evolved into a multi-disciplinary Structural Heart Team comprised of staff from the Cardiac Cath Lab, Cardiovascular OR, Cardiac Short Stay and HH Heart Center, as well as cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, valve program coordinators, advanced practice providers, anesthesiologists and echocardiography technologists.

In its first full year, 2015, the TAVR team completed 22 procedures. Last year, Huntsville Hospital set a new record by completing 252 TAVRs.

The Structural Heart Team also performs mitral valve interventions, left atrial appendage closure and atrial/ventricular septal defect closures.

TAVR is considered a minimally-invasive procedure because a new heart valve can be inserted via catheter without removing the old, diseased valve or opening the patient’s chest.

TAVR No. 1,000 was performed on an 89-year-old man from Owens Cross Roads with severe aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve opening). He is doing well and expected to resume an active life with his new heart valve.

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