Treatments for Aortic Stenosis

It's a common heart condition affecting about three percent of patients over the age of 70, and about 10 percent of patients over the age of 80. "Aortic stenosis is when the heart valve becomes calcified or does not open or close all the way and that forces the heart to work harder to get the blood out of the heart and to the rest of the body. Unfortunately, aortic stenosis is a deadly and debilitating disease, about 50 percent of people will be dead in two years and 80 percent will be dead in 5 years," explained Dr. David Cervantes, a cardiothoracic surgeon with Lee Health.

But cardiothoracic surgeons at Lee Health say a procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement or TAVR for short can help patients with the diagnosis. "It's a minimally invasive way of planting a heart valve in a patient instead of using traditional surgery with large incisions, we use catheters through the groin to plant the heart valve. Most people who have TAVR feel better instantly when they wake up from anesthesia. This immediately changes people's lives," Dr. Cervantes said.

Since 2011, cardiothoracic surgeons at the Lee Health Shipley Center have performed 1,600 TAVR procedures. "The fact that it's a minimally invasive procedure so there's less pain associated, no scar, and a shorter hospital stay of about 1-3 days," he said.

Patients with severe symptoms of aortic stenosis like fatigue, chest pressure, and shortness of breath qualify for TAVR. Helping patients live a longer and better quality of life.

Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries. Lee Health - Caring People. Inspiring Care.