MountainView Hospital has achieved a distinguished 3-star ranking for its Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) program for its patient care and positive quality outcomes.
The 3-star ranking, which denotes the highest category of quality, comes from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the American College of Cardiology, for the time period ending Sept. 2021. This ranking places MountainView Hospital among the elite for TAVR heart care in the United States and Canada, representing the top 4 to 8 percent of all centers, depending on procedure.
The TAVR clinical team consists of interventional cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons from MountainView Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Associates led by Dr. Deepak Malhotra who perform these cases. At a multidisciplinary heart conference surgeons and physicians discuss appropriate patients with the goal of providing the best patient outcomes to the community.
The program offers advanced, state-of-the art, minimally invasive technology, along with expert clinical staff with the patient at the forefront. Additional support is provided by advanced nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, rehabilitation therapists, case managers and other team members to care for patients. Many programs across the country work towards this important and highly-respected award to be named one of the top TAVR hospitals and programs.
The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures.
Severe aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the aortic valve opening that does not allow normal blood flow. In elderly patients, severe aortic stenosis is sometimes caused by the build-up of calcium on the aortic valve’s leaflets. Over time the leaflets become stiff, reducing their ability to fully open and close. When the leaflets don’t fully open, the heart must work harder to push blood through the aortic valve to the body.
TAVR provides a unique option for patients to have a valve replacement without open heart surgery. It has become the primary approach to replace the valve for most patients with aortic valve stenosis.
This less invasive procedure allows a new valve to be inserted within the diseased aortic valve while the heart is still beating. Once the new replacement valve is expanded, it pushes the old valve out of the way and the replacement valve functions to regulate proper blood flow.
Dr. Malhotra and the surgeons of MountainView Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates are accepting new patients by calling (702) 962-5920.