Aortic Valve Replacement Surgery
What is an Aortic Valve Replacement?
Four valves in your heart open and allow blood to flow through your body. After opening, these valves close tightly, preventing blood from flowing backward. If you have a damaged valve, this flow process changes and can cause obstruction or even leakage in the valves. This is when heart valve surgery, such as aortic valve replacement, may be necessary.
In an aortic heart valve replacement, a surgeon will replace the diseased valve with a new one. The new heart valve can be human, animal or mechanical. Typical aortic valve replacement surgeries require the breastbone (sternum) to be opened, this gives the surgeon full access to the heart and chest cavity, commonly referred to as open-heart surgery.
Like most heart valve operations, aortic valve surgery is typically an open-heart procedure. Under certain conditions, Lima Memorial Health System Heart & Vascular Institute takes advantage of new developments in surgical technology to replace heart valves using minimally invasive surgery, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
With the newly developed minimally invasive procedure, our surgeons reach your heart through a small incision between the ribs, often only two inches long. They use very small instruments and cameras to reach and operate on the heart through the smaller opening while watching a video monitor. This minimally invasive “mini-valve” procedure allows us to operate on your heart without opening your chest, reducing postoperative pain and scarring and improving your recovery time.
How long does it take to recover?
The normal recovery time after aortic heart valve surgery is usually four to eight weeks. This is shorter if minimally invasive surgery techniques are used. Typically, patients begin practicing basic self-care immediately after surgery and are encouraged to resume standing, walking, eating and drinking shortly after.
Contact Lima Memorial Health System Heart & Vascular Institute at 419-224-5915.
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