Interventional Cardiology at Adventist Health Glendale Reaches Milestone with 500th TAVR Procedure
Last month, the exceptional cardiologists at Adventist Health Glendale completed their 500th trans catheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure - a boast-worthy milestone not only for the hospital, but for patients and the community at-large as well.
For decades, the gold standard of treatment for patients battling severe aortic stenosis (or narrowing of the aortic valve opening) was open-heart surgery — an invasive and often risky procedure.
Today, with the transfemoral approach, physicians use a catheter to insert a state-of-the-art artificial valve through the femoral artery in the groin. The catheter guides the artificial valve to the heart, where the leaflets of the diseased valve will hold the new device in place.
The result? A much lower mortality rate and faster recovery for patients, and a boon to the community.
Not every hospital has the talent and technical capability to deliver such cutting-edge care. “We’re among the top hospitals in Southern California in terms of the number of these procedures that we do,” says Dr. Amir Solhpour, Medical Director of Structural Heart Disease at Adventist Health Glendale. “Our outcomes exceed the national average, and patients come from all over the area to access this care.”
Interventional cardiologist Dr. Harry Balian, who conducted the first TAVR procedure at Adventist Health Glendale in 2016, directed the 500th procedure as well. “I’m proud of this accomplishment, and of our teamwork,” shared Dr. Balian, the hospital’s Medical Director of Cardiovascular Services. “We’re busier in volume than some of university hospitals, which is a testament to our exceptional leadership and the talent of our team.”
And it’s not just aortic valve replacement keeping the cardiologists busy at Adventist Health Glendale. The program continues to grow exponentially with other structural heart interventions such as implantation of the Watchman device, MitraClip and soon the TriClip and percutaneous mitral valve replacement.
“The more procedures we do, the more data we have, the more we learn,” says Dr. Hambik Tankazyan. “I’m glad that we hit 500, but we’re not stopping there. We’re going to continue to improve, innovate, and keep providing the community with state-of-the-art cardiac care.”
