Hello Davej, I was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis in the fall of 2018 and had a TAVR on December 26, 2018. It was a very comfortable procedure. I did not have an incision in the sternum. The doctors approached my aorta through the groin on both sides. As the Dr. said, "It's a two-man operation." I was mildly sedated throughout the procedure then overnight in St. Mary's in Rochester, going home the next morning around 10 a.m. I have felt so much better. I had an echocardiogram just this past June 16 and the TAVR is working perfectly. Be sure to discuss the groin approach instead of open heart. All the best!

Just an FYI - When I worked as RN, I took care of many TAVR patients in recovery room. They did well and much nicer than a huge surgery! I agree with davej! Do this now, who knows what might be available if need arises again! Medical innovations go by leaps and bounds. I have been retired x 6 years and we did them for a few years then, so there should be good data available on lasting effects/success/any long term complications?!

No options were given told me I'm to young to have anything else done at 59 they do not to have open heart surgery when I'm In late 60s or 70s have open heart surgery now and never have a another valve problem again or at least with that valve that they put a mechanical valve in

As a retired RN who took care of TAVR patients, my thinking is along your lines, Davej. I would seek out at least two more opinions!

My wife has new tavor (81 years old with no previous heart problems).
They put her on 81 mg aspirin per day to prevent clotting. After 8 months she started having chest pains and throwing up and they thought it was heart problems. Low and behold and 165K dollars later it was the last thing they looked at which was her stomach. because they put her on 81mg aspirin for clots it caused her to have esophageal and stomach erosion problems. The question is was it necessary to put her on 81gm aspirin at all? She had no history of heart problems, strokes, attacks. etc. Now they want to change the aspirin to enteric aspirin with anti-acid drugs which have their own drawbacks. I read that the enteric can still dissolve somewhat in the stomach or if not will dissolve in the small intestine where it still can cause erosions and irritation of the small intestines and more gut problems. Why are they assuming that she will have blood clots at all and thereby cause all these drug side affect problems and the hell she has gone through because of 81g of aspirin. And they never follow up on what is going on with the aspirin which seems to cause a lot of people problems and the jury is still out on the use of 81g aspirin even after 20 years. Anyone ever gone through this?

Hi @yongy and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect.
@wisco50 and @davej have discussed TAVR here in this conversation so I moved your post here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/just-diagnosed-with-aortic-stenosis/ so that you can connect with them.
Are they planning on putting her on Proton Pump Inhibitors? Though it caused stomach issues, has it help her heart issues?

I am 76 years old. I had a TAVR procedure in August 2021. I also had no previous heart issues. I am not taking any medications related to the procedure.

im 77 years old with severe as. They want to do a tavr. question is how long does the tavr valve last? And when it wears out can they replace with another tavr valve? Doing a tavr in a tavr instead of surgery.

Hi davej. I had severe aortic stenosis along with a bicuspid valve. I had the option of TAVR but my surgeon advised that it would trap the “junk” (calcification) in there and create the possibility of strokes or other issues down the road. I decided to go with full open heart surgery. That turned out to be the right choice since it turned out the calcification had backed into one heart chamber. Because of that TAVR would have been a disaster. (This was 2 years ago)

My valve is designed to accept a TAVR replacement, so I have that option down the road.

In any case, I think the choice depends on a lot of factors. Mostly, I’d suggest finding a surgeon who’ll explain all your options along with how each one specifically affects your case.