Heart-procedure results boost Hartford Hospital

Photo | Contributed Carl Corey (second from left), a Hartford Hospital TAVR patient, with some of the hospital's physicians at an April 2019 event.

Matt Pilon

Write a Comment

By Matt Pilon

A relatively new heart-valve replacement procedure could become more commonplace at Hartford Hospital, following promising results of a clinical study in which the care provider played a direct role.

Transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR) is a less invasive way, compared to open-heart surgery, to treat certain patients with damaged aortic valves, which regulate the heart's blood flow.

The procedure involves threading a man-made replacement valve up through a patient's arteries, often from the groin, toward the heart. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger recently underwent a TAVR in New York, drawing plenty of headlines and news coverage.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't given the procedure broad approval for patients considered a low risk of dying in an open-heart surgery, but in a recent clinical study, low-risk patients who received TAVR — including at Hartford Hospital — had lower instances of death, stroke and hospitalization at both the one-month and one-year marks, compared with those who received open-heart surgery.

The results of the 1,000-patient study were published last month by the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The expectation is that later on this year, the approval will be extended to lower-risk patients,” said Hartford Hospital cardiologist Dr. Francis Kiernan.

Kiernan and his colleagues recently performed their 1,000th TAVR procedure, and hosted a small celebration to mark the milestone.

In attendance was Carl Corey, one of 19 patients whose outcomes Hartford Hospital tracked for the recent study.

Though open-heart surgery is relatively safe, the 70-year-old Putnam resident said he didn't want to have his chest cut open if he could avoid it. So he enrolled and was selected for the TAVR procedure, which he underwent on Valentine's Day. His wedding anniversary was the next day. The irony wasn't lost on him.

“I called it my heart week,” Corey said. After surgery, he was soon able to walk two miles on a treadmill.

“Everything is going good, I ride my motorcycle all the time,” he said.

Next month, Corey and his wife plan to head out to Oregon and Washington to ride their Harleys.

As hospitals await word from the FDA, several dozen U.S. hospitals, including Hartford, have permission to continue to perform TAVR on low-risk patients.

Jeffrey Flaks, president and chief operating officer of Hartford HealthCare, said bringing new, cutting-edge options to local patients is a point of pride.

“We want people in the region to have access to world-class care,” Flaks said. “We're amongst the world leaders with this set of [TAVR] capabilities.”