Valve Repair or Replacement

Depending on the nature and severity of your valve disease, your cardiologist may recommend one of the following procedures to repair or replace the problem valve:

• Surgery. Surgery continues to be the most common method for repairing or replacing a valve.
• Catheter-Based and Less Invasive Surgical Techniques. These treatment options are available to patients who are deemed too sick or who have other conditions that make them poor candidates for open-heart surgery. The two approaches described below address the two of the most common valve problems in the aging population: aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.
• Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). TAVR is one of the new, less invasive methods for replacing the valve using a catheter. This minimally invasive procedure was formerly known as Transcatheter Aortic Valve Intervention (TAVI).
• MitraClip. The MitraClip is a catheter-based approach to repairing the mitral valve.
• Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve Replacement. For some types of repaired congenital heart disease, less invasive catheter-based methods to replace the valve exist.