Minimally invasive surgery a success for elderly woman
Valve replacement surgery has been successfully conducted on a 93-year-old woman with heart issues at Xinhua Hospital.
The patient had been suffering heart problems due to severe aortic stenosis for years and medication provided little relief.
The woman had multiple underlying diseases and serious heart failure.
She was turned down by many hospitals because of her age and the risk of surgery.
The patient's condition had become more serious over the past six months and she was even unable to walk due to chest pains and fatigue. Though medics provided drug therapy, her condition failed to improve.
Dr Zhang Li, from Xinhua Hospital, said aortic stenosis is a common heart valve disease among the elderly. People with serious conditions can suffer fatigue, respiration difficulty, heart pain and fainting.
It is a major cause of heart failure and sudden death in the elderly.
Doctors at Xinhua Hospital in TAVR surgery for the 93-year-old woman.
"Heart valve disease is a common disease, which impacts 3.8 percent of the population," Zhang said.
"For those suffering symptoms of aortic stenosis, the mortality within five years is 80 percent if they do not receive timely treatment.
"The treatment includes drugs and surgery. The elderly had better receive heart checks annually or visit the doctor if suffering symptoms like chest pain, respiration difficulty and dizziness."
He said old age is not a taboo for surgery, which includes open-heart and minimally invasive surgery. This involves transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) that allows doctors to replace valves without doing open-heart surgery.
"Patients in very old age or high risk can receive minimally invasive surgery better than the traditional open-heart operation," he said.
Considering the patient's high age, medics from multiple departments participated in pre-surgery discussion and made profound pre-plans.
The one-hour surgery ran smoothly and the patient's heart function quickly improved and symptoms became better.
"The TAVR surgery provides a new choice for patients, especially those who are too old or at risk during open-heart surgery," Zhang said.
