The team at London Health Sciences Centre became the first in Canada to perform a new surgical technique on
cardiac patients. Called the transcaval approach to transcatheter aortic valve implementation (TAVI), the procedure is done through the femoral vein, near the groin, rather than through the femoral artery or through a chest incision. The procedure is available exclusively
to complex patients whose arteries are inaccessible because they are calcified and narrow.
The goal of TAVI is to restore normal blood flow through the heart and the body and reduce paravalvular leakage around thevalve. Some patients with severe heart disease have very few treatment options, and this procedure allows these patients a chance at improvement and a better quality of life.
For more information, visit www.lhsc.on.ca.
