Dr. Craig Smith - What Is Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Implantation (TAVI)?

Transcatheter aortic-valve implantation is a new technique for replacing the aorta valve. Replacement of the aorta valve is one of the most tried and true things we do in heart surgery that treats one of the most lethal conditions that we treat when people reach the level of critical aortic stenosis the chance of living two years is less than 50%.

We've known this for many, many years. Traditionally we've had great success replacing valves with conventional open heart surgery. Transcatheter aortic-valve implantation is a way to achieve the same end of replacing a systemic aortic valve with a catheter approach in an open heart surgery. At this stage, it still requires general anesthesia but it's evolving rapidly, and offers great simplicity going forward into the future is that technique is more streamlined.