Eideard

When 91-year-old Irvin Lafferty was diagnosed with severe blockage of his heart valve…open-heart surgery was out of the question. He’d already survived quadruple bypass while in his 50s, and having lived almost a century, Lafferty wasn’t a good candidate for heart surgery for many reasons. His local cardiologist referred him to surgical and interventional specialists at Chicago’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and, on January 21, 2009, Lafferty became the first patient in Illinois to receive a prosthetic heart valve through a procedure known as transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation, which combines catheterization technology and traditional surgery, allowing doctors to implant a new heart valve in place of Lafferty’s diseased valve while his heart remained beating.

Dr. Patrick M. McCarthy says the procedure builds upon a routine catheter-based procedure, the balloon aortic valvuloplasty. Charles J. Davidson, MD, who is also a co-principal investigator for the trial said, “This particular technique is a more durable treatment than balloon valvuloplasty and is potentially a breakthrough for treating high-risk patients.”

Medical experts estimate every year nearly 200,000 people in the U.S. need new heart valves. Yet over half of them do not receive them primarily due to frailty, one of the most common reasons for exclusion from traditional open-heart surgery.

During insertion, the artificial valve remains collapsed until it reaches its destination. It is then expanded and released in place of diseased aortic heart valves. The prosthesis is made of stainless steel and biological leaflets that help direct the flow of blood in the heart. It is permanent and integrates an expandable stent that holds the valve in its intended position.

Wow. This is one of those old geezer survival tricks that stays on the hard drive. Might need it some day.