Surgical procedure in Cuba increases patients life expectancy

Havana, Nov 1 (Prensa Latina) The implantation of a percutaneous aortic valve in the heart (TAVI), is a minimally invasive procedure and brings life expectancy to people suffering from acute degenerative aortic stenosis in Cuba.

wo patients benefited from this procedure, which is being performed for the first time in Cuba at the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, located in this capital.

Degenerative aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve, which comes out of the heart, hindering the passage of blood) has a prevalence of between four and seven percent of cases in the population over 65 years old.

Of these, approximately 30 percent are not operated on due to contraindications to surgical treatment and associated comorbidities.

Meanwhile, the mortality rate of patients with this disease is 50 to 60 percent two to three years after diagnosis, if no surgery is performed.

With the TAVI procedure, which is being used for the first time in the Caribbean country, the implanted valve is percutaneous, that is, it is inserted through a catheter, without the need to open the heart, so the patient does not have to undergo a major surgical intervention, reports Granma newspaper.