Percutaneous aortic valve replacement, or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) is a replacement valve that is delivered via a catheter using one of several access methods:
- transfemoral (in the upper leg)
- transapical (through the wall of the heart)
- subclavian (beneath the collar bone)
- direct aortic (through a minimally invasive surgical incision into the aorta)
TAVR is a procedure for select patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve opening) who are not candidates for traditional open chest surgery or are high-risk operable candidates.
TAVR is performed on a beating heart and does not require cardio-pulmonary bypass.
