Feb. 9 – New In Heart Surgery
David Trader of Snow Hill had felt his shortness of breath for a few years, but he kept putting it off as he cared for his ailing wife. But finally, in 2015, he went to Delmarva Heart to have it checked out.
“When I went to the cardiologist, they told me if I didn’t have something done by the first of the year, I wouldn’t be here anymore,” he said. “It got bad. Sometimes I wondered where my next breath would come from.”
Trader had aortic stenosis, a disease in which calcium builds up in the heart’s aortic valve until the valve does not open properly. “It’s commonly seen in older people,” explained Steven Hearne, MD, a cardiologist with Delmarva Heart. “It can cause shortness of breath and heart failure; sometimes people pass out.”
The traditional treatment is a valve replacement achieved by open heart surgery. But for some people, open heart surgery is just too risky. That at-risk group included Mr. Trader, who at 82 was not in good enough health to face a major surgery.
Fortunately, a new, less-invasive procedure is available at Peninsula Regional Medical Center for people like Mr. Trader.
“With transcather aortic valve replacement – TAVR – an artificial valve is loaded in a narrow tube called a catheter, which is usually inserted in an artery in the groin, much like a heart catheterization and guided through the circulatory system to the calcified valve,” Dr. Hearne said. “The new valve is deployed from the catheter inside the diseased valve where it takes its place and restores normal valve function and allows for normal circulation.”
Peninsula Regional Medical Center is the only hospital on the Eastern Shore offering the procedure, since June 2015. TAVR is relatively new, and it isn’t designed for everyone. Very specific criteria must be met to become a candidate, including not being well enough for the open-heart procedure, and its use is closely regulated.
But for Mr. Trader, who had a successful TAVR procedure, it was life-saving and life-changing.
Dr. Hearne, along with cardiac surgeon James Todd, MD, and Steve Wilson, PA-C, of Peninsula Regional CV Surgical performed the procedure on Mr. Trader. It took about 45 minutes.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Trader said. “As soon as I woke up, I could feel the difference. I had no pain, no shortness of breath; I felt like I could do anything I wanted to.”
The success of the procedure as it begins more widespread use in the United States is promising. Dr. Hearne sees it replacing more open-heart surgeries in the next decade. “TAVR is the way of the future,” he said, “and Peninsula Regional Medical Center is dedicated to remaining on the cutting edge of this technology.”
Dr. Todd also sees great promise in the procedure. “In addition to TAVR being the future for aortic valve surgery, this technology will also be the platform that will allow us to begin working on the mitral valve with the same minimally invasive techniques,” Dr. Todd said.
Trader was able to leave the hospital in a couple of days. “I have a small farm in Snow Hill with seven acres of grass to cut. It wasn’t too long afterward that I was able to be out there taking care of it.”
Now he’s keeping his heart healthy with one of his favorite hobbies, walking the Boardwalk in Ocean City. “This has been beyond anything I expected,” he said. “There’s nothing to hold me back – it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”
