Dr. Aravindan Selvaraj, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kauvery Group of Hospitals, Dr. R Anantharaman, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Kauvery Hospital, Alwarpet, along with a team of doctors and radiologists
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A team of doctors at Kauvery Hospital, Alwarpet, recently performed a complex heart valve procedure on a 78-year-old Chennai resident, using an advanced transcatheter technique to treat a repeatedly-failing heart valve.
The intervention, TAVR-in-TAVR-in-SAVR procedure with bioprosthetic valve fracture, was carried out on the patient with a long history of aortic valve disease.
The procedure was challenging because of multiple factors, including an aortic valve with two leaflets instead of the usual three and a slightly enlarged main artery from the heart. These complexities were further compounded by the failure of a previously-implanted transcatheter valve and surgical valve, said a press release.
During a press briefing in the city on Thursday (January 22, 2026), R. Anantharaman, Director, Transcatheter Heart Valve Therapies, Kauvery Hospital, Chennai, said given the patient’s age and multiple prior valve interventions, another open-heart surgery was considered high risk. A multidisciplinary heart team used advanced imaging to assess the condition and planned a complex transcatheter solution. A new transcatheter valve was implanted inside the earlier transcatheter valve, which was inside the surgical valve. He recovered quickly and was discharged in 48 hours.
To ensure valve expansion and improved blood flow, doctors used a bioprosthetic valve fracture technique to create more space for the new valve. Because of the high risk of stroke, dual cerebral protection devices were placed in both arteries supplying the brain to capture debris during the procedure, he said.
The patient was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis, a condition where the heart’s main valve narrows and restricts blood flow to the body and underwent open-heart surgery. When the valve degenerated, he underwent a transcatheter valve replacement in 2019, the release said.
Aravindan Selvaraj, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Kauvery Group of Hospitals, said managing such complex cases locally reduces the patients’ need to seek to medical care abroad.
Published – January 22, 2026 03:54 pm IST
