Tailoring aortic valve treatments to the patient

Open surgery has long been the convention for treating aortic stenosis, a potentially lethal condition in which a failing aortic valve reduces blood flow from the heart. But TAVR, or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, is a minimally invasive option for placing a replacement valve.  Two recent studies showed how the procedure is just as good as, or better than, surgery.  James McCabe, director of cardiac catheterization at UW Medical Center, explains how this opens up opportunities to tailor the therapy to the patient. See our related blog post.