Heart and Vascular Care
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Therapy
For patients experiencing severe aortic stenosis, Sharp offers several treatment options including "open heart" surgery and the new minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement therapy (TAVR).
What is aortic stenosis?
In elderly patients, severe aortic stenosis is often caused by the build-up of calcium (mineral deposits) on the aortic valve's leaflets (flaps of tissue that open and close to regulate the one-way flow of blood through the aortic valve). This build-up of calcium damages the aortic valve's ability to fully open and close. As a result, the narrowed valve allows less oxygen-rich blood to flow from the lungs to the brain and rest of the body and may cause symptoms like severe shortness of breath and extreme fatigue.
What is transcatheter aortic valve replacement?
While "open-heart" aortic valve replacement surgery is the gold standard treatment for severe aortic valve stenosis, there are patients who are not candidates for "open-heart" surgery. Some patients may be unable to undergo traditional surgery because of factors such as age, history of heart disease, frailty or other health issues. Sharp caregivers will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of those patients to determine if TAVR may be an appropriate alternative.
The procedure allows interventional cardiologists to replace a diseased aortic heart valve by placing a balloon-expandable heart valve into the body through a catheter inserted through a small incision in the thigh.
For patients whose anatomy prevents femoral artery access, a transcaval access route offers a new option by temporarily connecting major blood vessels in the abdomen.
While minimally invasive, all surgeries carry risks that you should weigh with your doctor.
Learn more.
Through our convenient Find a Doctor tool, we make choosing the right cardiovascular disease specialist easy.
We'll help find the doctor who's right for you.
View doctors specializing in heart care in San Diego.
All Categories
- Bariatric surgery
- Bariatric surgery seminars
- Breast cancer
- Cancer
- Cancer support groups
- Caregiving
- Childbirth preparation
- Chronic disease management
- Community events
- Congestive heart failure
- Continuing education
- CPR and first aid
- Embarazo y parto
- En español
- Exercise
- Financial and health care planning
- Gentle exercise
- Health screenings
- Heart
- Integrative and complementary medicine
- Medicare
- Men's health
- Mental health
- Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)
- Newborn and baby care
- Nutrition
- Online education programs
- Orthopedics
- Pain management
- Parenting and child development
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prenatal hospital tours
- Rehabilitation
- Robotic surgery
- Seniors and aging
- Sharp Chula Vista employees
- Sharp employee education
- Sharp employee online education
- Sharp Grossmont employees
- Sharp Lends a Hand
- Sharp Metro employees
- Sharp Training Center
- Sharp-Rees Stealy employees
- Smoking cessation
- Stress management
- Stroke
- Weight management
- Wellness
- Women's care
- View category descriptions
Contact Sharp HealthCare
Call 1-800-827-4277 or view our detailed phone directory.
If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or visit the nearest emergency room.
Please do not use this form to convey personal or medical information.
What's This?
These important numbers are located on your billing statement.

Find your SharpCare account number

What's GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) governs the processing of personal information gathered from individuals while they are in the European Union (EU) and parts of the EEA (European Economic Area, which currently includes Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway).
We are sorry, but we are unable to process your price estimate if you live or are travelling within the EU or affiliated nations.
What's This?
Many surgery and procedure names sound similar. If possible, please provide the current procedure terminology (CPT) code, which can be found on the order from your doctor.
If you cannot provide the CPT code, please contact your doctor's office for the CPT or a detailed description of services.