Cathleen Can Breathe After TAVR-in-TAVR-in-SAVR
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: November 19, 2025
The lifetime management of heart valve disease continues to be a critical topic in our community. The fact is… We are living longer lives. As a result, many patients may need multiple procedures throughout their lives.
To this point, I have been trading emails with Cathleen DeWitt Weed, an open-heart surgery patient, who had a surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Then, Cathleen needed a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) inside her SAVR. Recently, Cathleen was struggling to breathe due to her failing TAVR. So, Cathleen went to the elite cardiac team of Dr. Alfredo Trento and Dr. Raj Makkar at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles to get a TAVR inside her TAVR which was inside her SAVR.
Cathleen Says…
Given Cathleen’s ongoing support of heart valve disease patients in our Community, she gave me permission to share a few insightful emails that Cathleen sent me.
As Cathleen prepared for her TAVR-in-TAVR-in-SAVR, she wrote to me, “Hi Adam, I’m about to have a TAVR-in-TAVR-in-SAVR by Dr. Raj Makkar at Cedars-Sinai next month unless Dr. Trento decides to open me up. My surgery is scheduled but I am meeting with both doctors tomorrow to go over the last-minute details. They are also planning on doing the new ‘ShortCut’ leaflet cutting technique. I’ll keep you updated!”
As shown above, Cathleen looked quite happy after this unique procedure that was performed Dr. Raj Makkar and his team.
So you know, Dr. Raj Makkar is an interventional cardiologist. If you are unfamiliar with that type of doctor, Dr. Makkar uses catheters to replace or repair diseased heart valves. You can learn all about interventional cardiology in this video I filmed with Dr. Makkar titled, “A Day In The Life of an Interventional Cardiologist”.
In her next email to me, Cathleen wrote, “Hi Adam, My TAVR-in-TAVR-in-SAVR went so well!! I can breathe again! Already feeling amazing. I had the surgery on Monday and I came home Tuesday afternoon. The entire thing was super complex but it all went really well. Dr. Raj Makkar filmed the surgery so he can use it to teach other surgeons and interventional cardiologists around the world. I believe it is the future as more prior TAVR patients, who have also had open-heart surgeries in the past, show up needing new valves again.”
Thanks Cathleen, Dr. Trento, Dr. Makkar and Cedars-Sinai!
I am happy (and relieved) that Cathleen is doing so well after her TAVR-in-TAVR-in-SAVR. I am also thankful that Cathleen is educating patients in our community about her approach for managing heart valve disease throughout her life. I also need to extend a huge thanks to Dr. Alfredo Trento and Dr. Raj Makkar for their support of Cathleen and their ongoing support of all the patients in our community that have had excellent results at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
Related Links:
- Inside Access: Dr. Raj Makkar’s Catheter Heart Valve Lab
- Doctor Q&A: Am I Too Old or Too Young for TAVR?
Keep on tickin!
Adam
Written by Adam Pick
- Patient & Website Founder
