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Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)

St. Vincent’s Medical Center Riverside is the first hospital in the region to offer patients transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) therapy. There are only thirteen other hospitals in the state of Florida offering this life saving technology.

TAVR was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2011 for patients with severe aortic valve stenosis or severe narrowing of aortic valves.

The TAVR procedure requires a multidisciplinary approach in a special operating room called a Hybrid O-R. At St. Vincent’s Riverside the Hyrbrid O-R is 860 sq. ft. It’s more than double the size of a typical operating room to accommodate the larger team and equipment needed for the procedure.

Previously patients needed open heart surgery to replace these diseased valves. The procedure is now done through a small incision in the femoral artery in the thigh. The team will replace the diseased valve with the new Edwards SAPIEN valve.