The new OR allows St. Vincent’s physicians to perform the minimally invasive Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedure, requiring a highly skilled interventional cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, echo physician, anesthesiologist, as well as a radiologist, to work together to implant a prosthetic heart valve, all without opening the patient’s chest.
During the TAVR procedure, a catheter is inserted through the groin and transports the new valve up to the heart where it is implanted. This procedure is only for patients who are deemed inoperable or considered high-risk for traditional surgical treatments.
St. Vincent’s Birmingham is one of the first hospitals in Alabama to offer this medical treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis. It is also one of only two facilities in the state that use the Artis Zeego Robotic Imaging System, allowing physicians the ability to provide large volume, cross-sectional syngo DynaCT 360 visualizations in a single 6-second sweep – in other words, CT-like coverage with 3D Imaging, rapidly.