A surgical team at Hackensack Meridian Health's Jersey Shore University Medical Center recently performed what is believed to be New Jersey's first transcatheter double heart valve replacement combined with an ablation procedure to improve blood flow in the heart.
The patient, who had severe aortic stenosis and severe mitral valve stenosis, is now home and recovering well, Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian said April 23. The patient had undergone a coronary artery bypass graft surgery in 2017, but two of her heart valves deteriorated in the last year, and her heart function had weakened.
"Since the patient could not safely undergo open heart surgery for a second time and was suffering with these conditions, we decided it was best to avoid completing multiple procedures at separate times that would strain the patient's heart," said Matthew Saybolt, MD, director of the structural heart disease program at Neptune Township, N.J.-based Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
Dr. Saybolt and Kourosh Asgarian, DO, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the hospital, performed the two minimally invasive valve replacements simultaneously at the medical center's advanced hybrid operating room, followed by an alcohol septal ablation.
"I'm happy to say the patient was home from the hospital within four days, and we expect her to make a full recovery and have an improved quality of life," Dr. Saybolt said.
To learn more, click here.