Published
I have seen some neat youtube videos demonstrating this procedure. Pretty cool. Probably the wave of the future. Right now, our surgeons feel this is still experimental. Our docs may tend to go for the transapical AVR if they feel the patient cant tolerate the open heart procedure. In my opinion, those patients actually do worse than the ones that get the full open heart. I have seen lots of complications and extended inpatient stays.
That might be because they are more fragile than the typical patient, or part of the PARTNER trial (one of the goals of which is the patient live for a year! after surgery)
NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN
10 Articles; 19,193 Posts
Found @ American Nurse Today May 2012 issue
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement: New hope for patients with aortic stenosis
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[TD]This new aortic stenosis treatment avoids the sternotomy, aortotomy, and cardiopulmonary bypass of traditional valve replacement
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