Medanta Lucknow Doctors Perform Non-Surgical Valve Replacement on 75-Year-Old Patient

Lucknow : Interventional cardiologists at Medanta Hospital have successfully treated a 75-year-old woman suffering from a severely degraded prosthetic mitral valve using a minimally invasive, catheter-based approach. The advanced Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement (TMVR) technique allowed doctors to replace the damaged valve in just 45 minutes without performing high-risk repeat open-heart surgery.

High-Risk Case and Clinical Challenge
The patient had originally undergone open-heart surgery 15 years ago to receive a prosthetic mitral valve. Over time, the structural integrity of the prosthetic valve deteriorated, causing severe breathing distress and elevated heart pressure.

Given her advanced age, underlying diabetes, ongoing chest infection, and a recent 15-day stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), a traditional re-operative open-heart surgery presented an unacceptably high risk of mortality.

Catheter-Based TMVR Innovation
Led by Dr. P.K. Goel, Director of Interventional Cardiology, the medical team opted for a Transcatheter Mitral Valve-in-Valve procedure.

Access: A 5-millimeter thin catheter was introduced through a vein in the patient's leg.

Precision Guidance: Using real-time echocardiography and X-ray imaging, clinicians guided the catheter directly into the heart.

Deployment: A new valve was deployed directly inside the failing 15-year-old artificial valve without needing to remove the existing structure.

Duration: The procedure was executed under short-duration anesthesia and completed in approximately 45 minutes.

Rapid Recovery and Patient Outcome
Following the TMVR procedure, the patient demonstrated immediate clinical improvement. Accumulated lung fluid cleared, heart pressures stabilized, and severe respiratory distress was resolved.

The patient, who was on the verge of requiring mechanical ventilator support prior to the procedure, is now breathing comfortably on her own and is expected to be discharged shortly.

Dr. Goel highlighted that TMVR serves as a transformative, lower-risk treatment alternative for elderly and high-risk cardiac patients requiring valve revision without opening the chest cavity.

(Report by R.L.Pandey)