Transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedures performed for the first time at MITERA General Hospital, Department of Adult Cardiology

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedures to treat aortic stenosis were successfully performed for the first time at the MITERA Cardiac Catheterization Lab.

The TAVI method was successfully performed in four patients considered high-risk for surgical replacement of the aortic valve. The interventional team is headed by Dr. Angelos Rigopoulos, Interventional Cardiologist and Associate Director of the Department of Adult Cardiology at MITERA General Hospital, who has long experience, having performed such procedures abroad.

The procedures were performed following the assessment of the patients by the MITERA Heart Team, also including Dr. Fotis Mitropoulos, Director of the Cardiac Surgery Department, and the Anesthesiology Team, with Dr. Elisavet Ypsilanti as main operator. All four patients were discharged from hospital after 4 days, without having developed any complications.

The Department of Adult Cardiology at MITERA General Hospital, Director Dr. Stylianos Tzeis, comprises the infrastructure and technical know-how to apply ground-breaking procedures for the treatment of patients with heart conditions, and is a center of excellence for complex cardiology cases in Greece.

Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease in the developed world, affecting 1 in 8 patients aged over 75 years. Until a few years ago, the only effective treatment was surgical replacement of the diseased aortic valve. Patients considered high-risk for such a procedure had no alternative other than palliative medical treatment. Nowadays, older patients with unacceptable surgical risk or with contraindications to conventional surgery are treated with transcatheter aortic valve implantation, which, as a rule, is performed without general anesthesia.