Medical milestone: McKay-Dee Hospital celebrates 500 life-saving heart valve replacements
Nov 20, 2024, 5:09 PM | Updated: 5:40 pm
OGDEN — 500 and counting. That’s the number of life-saving TAVR procedures performed at Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital in the last eight years.
“Every single one of those represents a patient that we’ve helped in our community,” said Dr. Eric Lindley, medical director for cardiovascular services at McKay-Dee Hospital and the Intermountain North area market.
For patients with heart conditions like aortic stenosis, which occurs when the valve narrows and fails to open properly, a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is far less invasive than open-heart surgery.
“It’s really revolutionized how we treat this disease,” Lindley said.
Doctors use a catheter to insert a new valve into the heart. The procedure takes only an hour or two from start to finish.
“It’s fast. It’s slick,” said Ogden resident Kristi Gagnier, who underwent the TAVR procedure in September.
After being diagnosed with a heart murmur three years ago, her condition worsened. “My dad would carry my laundry down the stairs and up the stars for me because I couldn’t do it,” she said. “I literally was dying.”
Lindley said the narrowing of the aortic valve — one of four heart valves — forces the heart to work harder.
“People start to get more short of breath. They can get dizzy and lightheaded because of it, and usually they stop doing things that they used to be able to do and love,” he said. “They sometimes blame it on age, when really it’s the valve that’s the problem that’s slowing them down.”
Centerville resident Larry McClurg experienced those symptoms one day while working in the yard.
“I got really dizzy and a bad headache, and I passed out,” he recalled. “They did an angiogram and said, ‘Yeah, you got a problem with one of your valves.'”
McClurg had the TAVR procedure in October, and was able to go home the next day.
“This procedure is a miracle,” he said.
Gagnier said she noticed an immediate difference following her procedure. “It’s wonderful to feel good after not feeling good,” she said. “I’m just so grateful.”
“The fact that they can get this groundbreaking technology here close to home and not have to travel very far to get it means all the world to me,” Lindley said. “I want to make sure that we can provide that same high quality, low cost care to patients here in the community.”
