{"id":1951,"date":"2022-03-02T00:22:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T00:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=1951"},"modified":"2023-09-27T13:14:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T13:14:39","slug":"bicuspid-savr-tavr","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/bicuspid-savr-tavr\/","title":{"rendered":"Bicuspid Aortic Valves: What Should Patients Know About SAVR &#038; TAVR?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bicuspid aortic valve disease is one of the most common forms of valvular disorders that impacts 1% to 2% of the general population. As transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) becomes more prevalent, patients with bicuspid valves often wonder, &#8220;Can I get a TAVR?&#8221; and &#8220;Is a surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) better for my two-cusp valve?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To answer these important patient questions, we interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Christopher-Mehta-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Christopher Mehta<\/a>. As you may know, Dr. Mehta is an aortic valve and aneurysm specialist at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/northwestern-memorial-valve-program\">Northwestern Medicine<\/a> in Chicago, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uR6pdwZ85Z0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings Bicuspid Aortic Valves, SAVR &amp; TAVR<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the key learnings from our discussion with Dr. Mehta.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A bicuspid aortic valve has two cusps instead of a normal aortic valve which has three cusps. Patients with bicuspid aortic valves can be diagnosed with aortic stenosis (a blocked or narrow valve) due to calcification, aortic regurgitation (a leaking valve), or both aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/bicuspid-aortic-valve-comparison.jpg\" alt=\"Bicuspid Aortic Valve Compared to Normal Tri-Leaflet Valve\" width=\"600\" height=\"269\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bicuspid aortic valves are commonly associated with aortic aneurysms, an enlarged or dilated aorta, which can put patients at risk for an aortic dissection that can be life-threatening.<\/li>\n<li>Symptoms of bicuspid aortic valves with aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation can be chest pain, shortness of breath, light headiness, fainting spells and heart failure.\u00a0 Aortic aneurysms are often asymptomatic. However, patients with severe aortic aneurysms may experience chest pain.<\/li>\n<li>In 2012, Northwestern Medicine launched the first Bicuspid Aortic Valve Program to research, study, manage and optimize treatment for patients with bicuspid aortic valves. As Dr. Mehta states, &#8220;When we identify patients who have bicuspid aortic valves, they are lifelong patients in our program. What that means is that we keep close tabs on them with echocardiograms, CT scan imaging, and MRI imaging to make sure that we really catch when their valve disease or when their aneurysm gets to a point that we need to intervene, either by surgery or noninvasive transcatheter techniques.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>According to Dr. Mehta, patients with severe aortic stenosis can be treated with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).\u00a0 Patients with severe aortic regurgitation are treated using SAVR or aortic valve repair techniques.<\/li>\n<li>TAVR is a non-invasive procedure that requires no incision to the patient&#8217;s chest or ribs, no general anesthesia, and no heart-lung machine. The TAVR stays in place by anchoring itself to the calcium within a stenotic aortic valve.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter \" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/mPG2AMZ-pks\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"SAVR vs. TAVR\" width=\"615\" height=\"346\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Mehta and the Northwestern Medicine Heart Team use several criteria to evaluate which therapy &#8211; SAVR or TAVR &#8211; is best suited for a bicuspid aortic valve patient with severe aortic stenosis. Select criteria used by Dr. Mehta and his colleagues include age, morphology (type of bicuspid aortic valve), location of calcification, presence of an aortic aneurysm, and other co-morbidities (e.g. coronary artery disease.)<\/li>\n<li>According to Dr. Mehta, it is critical that each patient is evaluated for either a SAVR or TAVR.\u00a0 &#8220;I would emphasize that no two patients with bicuspid aortic valve disease are the same,&#8221; states Dr. Mehta, &#8220;Some patients are better suited for surgery. Some patients are better suited for transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>SAVR for patients with bicuspid aortic valves has been performed for over 60 years. The use of TAVR for bicuspid aortic valves is a relatively new technology deployed for replacing diseased aortic valves.\u00a0 Dr. Mehta states, &#8220;There\u2019s still a lot to learn about who those particular patients are that benefit from TAVR and have a bicuspid aortic valve.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Mehta&#8217;s advice for patients with bicuspid aortic valves is (i) to search out a multi-disciplinary, medical team that specializes in SAVR and TAVR and (ii) to seek a second opinion if needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Mehta &amp; Northwestern Medicine<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of our patient community, many thanks to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Christopher-Mehta-Chicago-Illinois.php\">Dr. Christopher Mehta<\/a>\u00a0for taking the time to share his clinical experience and research with us.\u00a0 And, many thanks to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/northwestern-memorial-valve-program\">Northwestern Medicine<\/a>\u00a0for taking great care of the HeartValveSurgery.com patients.<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/videos\/savr-tavr-webinar\">SAVR vs. TAVR: What Should Patients Know (Webinar)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/emergency-aortic-aneurysm\/\">Emergency Aortic Valve &amp; Aneurysm Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2019\/12\/16\/savr-tavr-dr-chris-malaisrie\/\">Which Operation Did Bicuspid Aortic Valve Patient, Jim, Get &#8211; TAVR or SAVR?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"class_list":["post-1951","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-bicuspid-aortic-valve"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3794,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1951\/revisions\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}