Surgeons at the Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, Australia, have been the first in the world to successfully trial a new procedure to treat aortic stenosis, the degrading and narrowing of the main heart valve.
The trial is especially important in saving the lives of the elderly who are too weak to undergo regular open-heart surgery.
The new, less invasive procedure involves inserting a tiny valve via a wire through a small hole in the groin. Once the valve is in place in the heart, it opens up like a flower; it has been dubbed the “lotus valve”.
According to the Heart Research Centre of Australia, around four in every thousand people have aortic stenosis; some of those have no obvious symptoms and are unaware of their fragile condition.
Professor Ian Meredith is leading the team of surgeons in Melbourne and will also direct other trails of this cutting edge device internationally.
“When you have severe aortic valve narrowing and you become breathless as a consequence of that, more than half the people won’t survive 12 months,” Professor Meredith said, adding: “Only about a third will survive two years.”
Professor Meredith is optimistic about this breakthrough treatment and believes it will save many lives in the future.
“This will have a significant impact on patients all around the world because this is a very common problem in the elderly,” he said.
Eleven elderly women suffering from aortic stenosis undertook the trail surgery at Monash. In all cases, the surgery was highly successful.
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