TAVR Treatment and Doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine

Restoring Your Heart Health Without Open Heart Surgery

If you are living with aortic stenosis, a procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, may be able to help you. It is a minimally invasive treatment that places an artificial valve in your heart to help blood circulate in your body so you can avoid heart damage and return to a more active lifestyle. Our structural heart disease specialists offer TAVR in Baltimore, Maryland, at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and in Bethesda, Maryland, at Suburban Hospital.

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Is TAVR right for me?

Your doctors at our Structural Heart Disease Clinic can help determine if TAVR is a good choice for treating your aortic valve stenosis.

The condition was traditionally treated with open-heart surgery. The TAVR procedure has replaced the need for open-heart surgery for many patients, including those who are at low risk of complications.

"Almost everyone with severe aortic valve stenosis is a candidate for TAVR."
Jon Resar, M.D.

At the Structural Heart Disease Clinic, a cardiologist and a heart surgeon work together to choose the approach that is appropriate for you.

Some factors that help determine if TAVR is right for you include:

Your age
Your general health and mobility
Your heart health
Previous heart surgeries
History of stroke
Chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD)
Liver disease
Kidney disease
Previous radiation treatment to your chest
Conditions affecting the aorta, such as calcium deposits

What are the benefits of TAVR?

TAVR can address aortic stenosis with a less-invasive approach than open-heart surgery. Instead of being fully asleep with anesthesia, you only need light sedation. Open-heart surgery can mean a four- to six-day recovery in the hospital, whereas TAVR patients can return home in as little as one day. Because it is less invasive, TAVR can mean a quicker recovery.

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