Podcast: Cardiologist describes benefits of minimally invasive procedure

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In the spring of 2018, McLaren Macomb cardiologists were the first in Macomb County to perform a minimally invasive heart procedure would have an immediate impact on many patients living with a decreased quality of life.

“Transaortic valve replacement, or TAVR, is a minimally invasive way to replace the aortic valve in the heart,” said Dr. Timothy Logan, an interventional cardiologist with McLaren Macomb of the treatment to address aortic stenosis. “Traditionally, the way to address that problem has been with a valve replacement done by open heart surgery where you need to make an incision and open up the chest and put a new directly surgically replace the heart valve.

Dr. Logan describes the aorta and aortic stenosis as: “I tell patients it’s like a door that opens and closes as your heart beats and it lets blood flow through when your heart is pumping and then it closes to prevent blood from leaking backwards. Over time, there’s wear and tear that can occur on the heart valve … thickening and stiffening of the valve.

“That obviously leads to less efficiency of the heart pump because you can’t get blood out of your heart. So, patients will often show signs of shortness of breath, they may get chest pain or dizziness and that over time may need to be fixed.”

TAVR has allowed cardiologist address the condition while avoiding surgery.

“Now we have a less invasive option, and this is done through a catheter based procedure,” Dr. Logan said. “So, instead of opening up the heart, we use catheters that go in through the blood vessels.”

Listen to Dr. Logan and other McLaren physicians from varied specialties on the In Good Health Podcast.