Breakthrough TAVR procedure gives hope to heart patients

MANILA, Philippines - Patients with severe aortic valve disease now have new hope at effective treatment through the advanced medical procedure Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacements (TAVR) which is now being done at St. Luke’s Medical Center.

From February this year, the hospital performed nine TARV procedures with a 100 percent success rate.

TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure designed to treat severe aortic valve stenosis or narrowing of the aortic valve. It improves the pumping effectiveness of the heart, improves quality of life and prolongs life. 

Aortic stenosis is commonly a result of severe valve calcification and degeneration which causes aortic valve narrowing and cardiac or heart dysfunction in the elderly.

Headed by highly experienced interventional cardiologist Dr. Fabio Enrique Posas and Dr. Estanislao de Castro, a leading cardiothoracic surgeon, the St. Luke’s TAVR team is composed of leading Filipino cardiac anesthesiologists, cardiac imaging specialists, critical care team and well-trained catheterization laboratory personnel as well as critical care nurses.

The St. Luke’s team expects to complete its 10th procedure this second half of the year. This milestone will earn the hospital and its team of physicians the certification as independent TAVR operators so they can perform treatments without the presence of a proctor. 

With this certification, St. Luke’s will be included among select international hospitals certified as TAVR centers. In Southeast Asia, St. Luke’s joins a handful of hospitals in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand that offer TAVR.

While open heart surgery is still considered the gold standard for the management of severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis, it requires complex surgical techniques, the use of heart lung machines and may be associated with prolonged recovery, long hospital stay and significant risk of mortality and complications. 

Approximately 30-40 percent of patients who need the procedure, however, cannot undergo open heart surgery due to multiple medical problems, frailty, extremes of age or patient preference. 

Unlike open heart surgery, TAVR replaces diseased and severely narrowed aortic valves with a new bio prosthetic valve which is most often deployed using a catheter inserted through a patient’s groin arteries. 

In selected patients it can even be performed under sedation. The procedure allows for a shorter, less painful, less stressful and more rapid recovery time. 

The St. Luke’s TAVR team celebrates the success of the country’s first TAVR procedure.

In selected patients, TAVR performs just as well as open heart surgery. Among patients who cannot undergo open heart surgery, TAVR has shown historical survival advantages when compared to patients treated with medicine alone and it is currently considered the standard of care for such patients. 

The team uses advanced imaging systems and procedures to support its ability to achieve consistent and optimal results. In the process of pioneering TAVR, considered the apex in interventional cardiology worldwide, the team also accomplished many firsts in the history of Philippine medicine.

The team performed the first successful Philippine TAVR on a patient with severe, life-threatening narrowing of the aortic valve last Feb. 15. This was followed by the first TAVR for a degenerated surgically implanted bio prosthetic valve in March.

Since then, the team has performed the first direct trans-aortic valve implant using a small incision in the chest (mini sternotomy) and the first trans-subclavian TAVR using a small incision at the right side of the chest on patients with severe blockages of the peripheral arteries. 

While most patients can be treated through the groin arteries, such advanced techniques allow the treatment of patients who otherwise have no options to undergo TAVR.

“By harnessing new technologies and making them accessible to people who need them, we not only expand our ability to treat them but also extend their lives and enhance their quality of life,” Posas said.

For inquiries on how TAVR can help you or a loved one, call St. Luke’s Medical Center’s Global City’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at 789-7700 extension 3025.