KOCHI: Tell Dr Alain Cribier that a 90-year-old person cannot undergo a surgery to replace the aortic valve, and he will laugh. Because Cribier it was who pioneered the transcatheter valve implantation (TVI) technology that can replace a diseased valve using catheter-based techniques rather than open-chest surgery.
“The oldest patient I’ve treated was 97 years old. The technology has even helped a 101-year-old person who had survived the Holocaust.
Last I heard, he was playing golf,” says the Cardiology head at the University Hospital Charles Nicolle, Rouen, France.
The aortic valve, which serves as a portal between the left ventricle and the aorta, becomes calcified, stiff and narrow in the elderly, resulting in a slew of problems, including heart failure. And most of the elderly are too frail to undergo a major surgery. “We decided to experiment with percutaneous TVI as the mortality rate is 80 per cent in such people,” says Dr Cribier.
But the medical fraternity was not convinced when Dr Cribier tried aortic balloon valvuloplasty in 1985. His experiments with stented valves finally led to the use of polyurethane valves in 1999. The first-ever valve replacement took place in 2002. The percutaneous aortic valve has so far been implanted in 400 patients worldwide.
Dr Cribier is still busy researching better options. And there is no dearth of investors in the project as the new technology has caught on except in Asia. Though the valve is expensive, the total procedure cost only as much as open heart surgery, mainly because it cuts down the period of hospitalisation.
“India’s elderly population here is growing fast. It will definitely benefit those aged 60-70,” he says.