Ticker fix spares patient open-heart risk

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MEDICINE | Experimental surgery takes unconventional route to replace heart valve

Ed Hohmann was running out of options.

The opening to one of his primary heart valves was gradually closing, forcing his heart to pump harder to circulate blood to the rest of his body.

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Standard treatment for the condition would be open-heart surgery to replace the aortic valve. But Hohmann was considered too high-risk because of his age and because he'd had heart surgery before.

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Using an experimental device, an Evanston Northwestern Healthcare cardiologist was able to insert a replacement valve in Hohmann's heart without opening the chest cavity. Seven months later, Hohmann says he's walking more, breathing better, even exercising a little.

A pencil-thin catheter is used to insert the replacement valve into the heart through the groin. With open-heart surgery, the patient's breastbone is sawed in two.

But in order for the less-invasive technique to be used, the blood vessels in the patient's legs have to be large enough to weave the catheter through, Feldman says. It also remains to be seen whether the experimental valve, made by Edwards Lifesciences in Irvine, Calif., is as durable as valves used in traditional open-heart surgery.

Sun Times