Cardiac Surgeons Perform World's First Robotic TAVR Explant + AVR

Several ACS Fellows at the West Virginia University (WVU) Heart and Vascular Institute in Morgantown were part of a team that recently performed a world-first robotic transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) explant and aortic valve replacement.

TAVR is increasingly used to treat aortic stenosis, but the durability of the valves has been a cause for concern among cardiac physicians and patients, especially in younger, lower-risk patients, as premature failure can lead to open heart surgery.

A 67-year-old female patient recently experienced such premature failure, necessitating an explant. To avoid open heart surgery, Vinay Badhwar, MD, FACS, the Institute’s executive chair and Gordon F. Murray Professor and chair of the Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery at the WVU School of Medicine proposed the robotic TAVR explant and aortic valve replacement.

The surgical team had several Fellows, including Dr. Badhwar, Goya Raikar, MD, FACS, and J. Hunter Mehaffey, MD, FACS, as well as other cardiac surgeons and a cardiologist. They performed the robotic TAVR explant and planned replacement of both the patient’s aortic and mitral valves, and she was discharged to home less than a week after the successful procedure.

“It is a privilege to help evolve the field of robotic heart surgery by innovating techniques and teaching other colleagues around the world,” Dr. Badhwar said.