Mercy Health St. Rita's is offering a new aortic valve replacement procedure.
The new procedure is called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and Dr. John Sirak told us that it is a less invasive way of replacing damaged heart valves. The surgeon can repair the valves by inserting a catheter into the groin and working it up into the aorta. "It's really not necessary to fillet somebody wide open." Sirak showed a very graphic video of the procedure in which we could see the instruments at work while the heart was beating. Sirak says the new procedure is 95% effective and patients can be back on their feet within a week.
