Balloons and Surgery: What’s the Connection?

Senile aortic valve stenosis is an age related condition which gradually gets worse before potentially killing a patient. The condition causes calcium deposits to form on and around the aortic heart valve, causing it to narrow and meaning less blood can get through at a time. This leads to the heart having to work harder to pump blood around the body and ends up with it weakening and causing things like heart failure, chest pain and fainting. The real issue with senile aortic valve stenosis is that most of the patients who suffer from it are too old or too at risk to allow for operating and without surgery there’s little chance of their survival. Patients diagnosed with senile aortic valve stenosis have a 50% chance of dying within two years.

An amazing new development in the USA has led to another alternative to sufferers of this condition, one which doesn’t require cutting them open. That’s right; doctors have actually developed a way of operating on a person’s heart without a full open heart surgery. Take a moment to think about how miraculous that is in terms of advances and where it could lead.
Have you breathed in that rich aroma of medical potential for long enough?

Good, let’s talk specifics. The procedure involves replacing the diseased aortic valve with an artificial one. This artificial valve is made from cow tissues and polyester with a stainless steel supportive mesh. It’s put into the body through the larger femoral artery in the thigh, threaded in using a catheter in fact! Once it reaches the site of the diseased valve it’s released from the catheter and expanded using a small balloon. Scientists say that as soon as the artificial valve is expanded its fully functional.

This astounding surgery has just been approved in the USA and should it prove as successful as it seems capable of being, it could well lead to a new age of pinhole surgery!