Aortic Valve Replacement

What is an aortic valve replacement?

An aortic valve replacement is heart surgery that replaces a narrowed or leaking aortic valve with a new valve.

You may need aortic valve replacement if you have:

  • Valve stenosis or narrowing – your aortic valve does not fully open and this smaller opening obstructs the blood flow out of your heart.
  • Valve regurgitation – your aortic valve does not close properly and allows your blood to leak back into your heart.

There are no medications to treat aortic valve problems and if left untreated they can worsen over time.

Aortic valve replacement can be performed in two ways:

  • Traditional open-heart surgery – typically takes a few hours and is performed under general anaesthetic. It involves a large cut in your chest so that your doctor can access your heart and replace the damaged or faulty valve with a new valve. Your heart is stopped and a heart-lung machine is connected to circulate blood around your body during the operation. Your heart is restarted and the opening in your chest is closed.
  • Minimally invasive surgery – is quicker to perform, your heart doesn't need to be stopped, a heart-lung machine isn’t needed and smaller cuts are made to your chest or a catheter is inserted in your leg or chest. There are two main types of minimal invasive aortic valve replacement surgery:
    • Aortic valve balloon valvuloplasty - involves passing a catheter through a large blood vessel into your heart and inflating a balloon to open up your aortic valve. It is used to treat a narrowed aortic valve but not a leaking one.
    • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) - involves inserting a catheter into a blood vessel in your upper leg or chest, passing it towards your aortic valve and using it to guide and fix a new valve over the top of the old one.

Your aortic valve can be replaced by different materials. Mechanical (artificial) valves last a very long time but require you to take blood thinning medicines for the rest of your life to prevent blood clots forming on your valves. Tissue (animal) valves are usually replaced after 10 to 15 years but don’t require you to take life-long blood-thinning medicines.

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