Kettering Health offers patients throughout western Ohio exceptional care and expertise in TAVR procedures. Designed to help improve quality of life with a less-invasive process, TAVR procedures help get patients back to doing what they love to do. TAVR is performed with limited anesthesia, and patients are generally up and moving on the same day as the procedure.

What is TAVR?

TAVR (Transcatheter aortic valve replacement) is a new technology that gives qualified patients a longer, more active life. The advanced procedure is led by our multidisciplinary team of expert interventional cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and cardiac cath clinicians.

TAVR is a heart surgery that replaces a diseased aortic valve with a new valve. TAVR is done by putting a thin, flexible tube (called a catheter) through a blood vessel in your groin or between your ribs.

The doctor uses the catheter to insert the new valve, made of special material mounted on a metal frame, in the heart. The new valve helps improve blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body.

Candidates for TAVR

TAVR may be an option for you if you have the following: 

• Advanced age
• A weaker heart
• Chronic obstructive lung disease
• Diabetes
• Kidney disease
• Previous heart surgery
• Previous radiation treatment to the chest

Be sure to talk with your healthcare provider about any questions or concerns you have before the surgery. The surgery takes three to five hours. Inpatient recovery lasts about eight days. 

Find out if you’re a candidate for TAVR, call the Structural Heart Clinic at Kettering Health Main Campus (937) 395-6023.