A life saving story of Apollo Hospitals in performing TAVR Surgery
Chennai, 29th April 2017 : Aortic Stenosis (AS) is a very common valvular heart disease and it
can lead to significant mortality and morbidity in the elderly population. 14.5 lakh patients
suffer with severe Aortic Stenosis in India and the prevalence of AS increases from 2% in adults
over 65 years of age to 4% in adults over 85 years of age.
In this scenario, Apollo Hospitals highlighted the case of performing a complex Trans catheter
Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) surgery in a 70 year old patient who had 2 aortic valve cusps
with high calcification that made the case more complex. “A Normal Aortic Valve has 3 cusps.
But in India we are seeing more patients with 2 cusps which result in early narrowing, thus
making the case more complicated. Incidence of Bicuspid valves is 30-40% of the patients going
for TAVR in India compared to about 15 % in western data. It takes extensive expertise and care
in successfully completing the surgery in such cases and we are exited to have achieved in
saving the patient,” said Dr. G Sengottuvelu, Senior Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals. TAVR procedure is minimally invasive catheter based procedure sometimes requiring general
anaesthesia. Further to that now we have further made this Less Invasive TAVR i.e, performing
the TAVR under local anaesthesia and percutaneous access without surgical cut down off the
groin minimising hospital stay. “A very important feature of this TAVR procedure is that it has
shown not only to improve the length of peoples lives but also the quality of life. TAVR is a
great addition to our ability to care for patients with valvular heart disease, and for the
appropriate patient, we've seen outstanding results,” said Dr. Sengottuvelu talking about the
highlights of TAVR surgeries.
70 years old N Ramanathan , Retired Maths professor who was suffering from severe Aortic
valve narrowing and severe lung disease had no treatment options as open surgery and also
TAVR was considered high risk. However we evaluated his condition and after much team
discussion we decided to perform LESS INVASIVE TAVR , which was done successfully. This is
one of the valves with 2 cusps and calcium which fell in the highest risk category even for
TAVR.
Patients with severe Aortic Stenosis often develop symptoms that can restrict their day to day
activities, such as walking short distances and climbing stairs. These patients can often benefit
by replacing their ailing valve. However, only two-thirds of the patients undergo the procedure
every year across the globe. The main reason is due to lack of awareness. Once symptoms
appear, untreated patients have a poor prognosis. Without treatment, symptomatic Aortic
Stenosis will eventually lead to death. Thus, awareness on TAVR and its procedures need to be
created among the patients as well as the experts.
The one day seminar highlighted the treatment procedurals, complexities and post procedure
management of TAVR Surgery. Panel discussions on the "Life after TAVR " that gave a lot of
insights and solutions for high risk patients with Aortic stenosis was also a major highlight of the event. About Apollo Hospitals group:
It was in 1983, that Dr.Prathap Reddy made a pioneering endeavour by launching India’s first
corporate hospital – Apollo Hospitals in Chennai. Over the years Apollo Hospitals has
established itself as home to the largest cardiac practice in India with over 160,000 cardiac
surgeries. Apollo Hospitals is also the world’s largest private cancer care provider and runs the
world’s leading solid organ transplant program. Now, as Asia’s largest and most trusted
healthcare group, its presence includes 8,488 beds across 51 Hospitals, 1,586 Pharmacies, 92
Primary Care and Diagnostic Clinics, 100 Telemedicine units across 10 countries. Health
Insurance services, Global Projects Consultancy, 15 colleges of Nursing and Hospital
Management and a Research Foundation with a focus on global Clinical Trials, epidemiological
studies, stem cell & genetic research and the first Proton Therapy Center across Asia,
Africa and Australia. In a rare honor, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp
in recognition of Apollo’s contribution, the first for a healthcare organization. Apollo Hospitals
Chairman, Dr.Prathap C Reddy, was conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan in 2010.
For more than 28 years, the Apollo Hospitals Group has continuously excelled and maintained
leadership in medical innovation, world-class clinical services and cutting-edge technology. Our
hospitals are consistently ranked amongst the best hospitals globally for advanced medical services and research.
