In August, David Short, who has been volunteering with us for four years, made his first visit back to Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he wasn’t there to resume his volunteer duties. He was there to become the hospital’s first patient to undergo a new, minimally invasive heart procedure.
The 80-year old from Mechanicsville, VA is a father and grandfather who has a lot to live for. As an alternative to open heart surgery, David had the transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure, known as TAVR, performed. TAVR aims to treat aortic stenosis and provides older patients the opportunity to repair their aortic valve.
During this procedure, a multi-disciplinary team of cardiac surgeons and cardiologists apply direct therapies to the heart. They do this by using catheters that are placed in various arteries. In addition to minimal scarring, the TAVR procedure carries a very low risk of complications, is less painful and results in less downtime for the patient. In fact, David was discharged from the hospital by noon the day following his procedure.
“Not only was I the first patient to undergo this procedure at the hospital, it happened during COVID-19 no less. Despite all this, I felt completely at ease with the process. I was confident in my medical team to keep me safe and deliver great results, and they did just that,” David shares.
The multi-disciplinary TAVR team at Memorial Regional Medical Center includes Brody Wehman, MD, a cardiovascular surgeon, Sohail Chaudry, MD, an interventional cardiologist, Sameer Rohatgi, MD, an interventional cardiologist, Renee Tierney, RN, MSN, ACNP, a nurse practitioner, the Bon Secours Advanced Cardiac Valve Center (ACVC) and the wider structural heart team at Memorial Regional Medical Center.
Learn more about our TAVR services and find a Bon Secours cardiologist near you today.
