A life-saving treatment for older patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at intermediate to high risk or ineligible for open-heart surgery, is available at Fletcher Allen Health Care and other sites in the United States.

The new FDA approved heart surgery treatment Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement system (TAVR), also known as Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), is designed to provide a minimally invasive, non-surgical treatment option for this patient group.

• Fletcher Allen was one of 45 hospitals in the US that participated in a clinical trial to test this new procedure.
• The treatment has been performed in over 50,000 patients in more than 34 countries.
• The Corevalve TAVR/TAVI treatment is FDA approved for patients who are ineligible for open-heart surgery.
• The Corevalve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) treatment is also available to patients who are intermediate to high risk for open-heart surgery.
• The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have also added TAVR to their guidelines for doctors.

Fletcher Allen and other sites nationwide are now testing TAVI on patients deemed a little less risky --- those in their 70's.  FDA approval for those patients is expected by the end of the year.