Our Heart Valve Program is led by highly experienced physicians working with a multi-disciplinary team focused on management of complex and common valve diseases. Specialists in valvular heart disease, cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery and cardiac anesthesia work together to fully diagnose and treat patients using a personalized and comprehensive care approach to treatment.
Procedures in our Heart Valve Program include:
TRANSFEMORAL AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT (TAVR)
Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center’s Harrell Heart Center recently completed it 400th transfemoral aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and was among the first in Florida to offer the TAVR procedure. This minimally invasive surgical procedure repairs the valve without removing the old, damaged valve and eliminates the need for open heart surgery for aortic valve replacement. As a result, TAVR reduces hospitalization and recovery time. This procedure is specifically for patients who are at intermediate and high surgical risk due to their advanced age or fragile condition.
Andres Medina, MD, Lakeland Regional Health Cardiovascular Surgeon, helped pioneer the TAVR procedure. Beginning in 2008, he served as one of two surgical investigators participating in the PARTNER trial for the state, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and led to FDA approval for TAVR. Dr. Medina performed the first TAVR procedure in Florida and has since evaluated hundreds of successfully completed TAVR cases and proctored other surgeons as they learned to master its techniques.
OUR HEART VALVE PROGRAM ALSO PROVIDES:
- Mitral and aortic valvuloplasty for stenosis
- Insertion of closure devices for prosthetic paravalvular leaks
- Valve repair surgery including mitral, aortic and tricuspid valve reconstruction
- Valve replacement surgery
- Annular enlargement procedures for aortic valve replacement
- Valve-sparing aortic root replacement
- Apico-aortic conduits for aortic stenosis
- MitraClip, a less invasive surgical option for patients who could otherwise not undergo surgical mitral valve repair or replacement