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TMH to begin offering new heart surgery

By Hannah Carroll | Correspondent Published: Thursday, October 25, 2012

Tallahassee Memorial Hospital is in the begin-

ning stages of offering a new heart surgery for

inoperable and high-risk patients of aortic

stenosis.

Aortic stenosis occurs when the aortic valve

becomes too narrow to allow proper blood

�low to the heart. This new procedure corrects

the narrowing by putting in a new valve andexpanding the old one without open heart 

surgery.

In trans-catheter aortic valve replacement 

(TAVR), doctors place a new aortic valve in a

patient’s heart, never opening his or her chest.

They make a small incision in the groin and

direct a long, �lexible tube through an artery to

the heart. At the end of the tube, there is a

small balloon that is used to expand thenarrowed valve and place a new arti�icial one.

Doctors are able to drastically improve the

lives of patients who normally would not even

be OK’d for surgery. It is a monumental addi-

tion for Tallahassee Memorial Hospital but 

even more for Tallahassee and the surrounding

areas.

About a month ago, Joe Mills, 92, had theprocedure done.

He used to have a hard time just walking down

the hallway, but now, he can move around more

freely. He is able to do things that he was

unable to do before the surgery.

“I’m up and about and doing things,” Mills said.

“I went out and blew the leaves off the back 

patio, yesterday."

Penny Burroughs, the valve clinic coordinator,

said having this available at TMH is going to

help a lot of people. Before, patients needed to

go to Shands at the University of Florida, in

Gainesville, or Emory University Hospital, in

Atlanta, to get the same type of care and exper-tise before it was offered here.

“Now that we are able to do this at TMH, you

get to stay home,” Burroughs said. “Your

family’s here with you, and you’re here with

physicians you already know."

Mills said it is unlikely he would have been able

to have the procedure done if it was not being

offered in Tallahassee.

Dr. Wayne Batchelor performed Mills’ opera-

tion. He said multiple surgeons turned down

Mills for standard open chest aortic valve

replacement surgery, which is why he was such

a good candidate for TAVR. Batchelor said Mills

has come a long way since the operation.

“He was really compromised tremendously by

his valve narrowing,” Batchelor said. “So, in his

case, he had a dramatic improvement in symp-toms. He was able to get back to the things that 

brought him pleasure.”

Batchelor said the procedure is still getting its

legs in the U.S., but he expects that TAVR will be

used more frequently in the next �ive years.