Page 9 - Christiana Care Focus

| Heart & Vascular Health
{ INNOVATION }
The TAVR boom
Until recently, TAVR was only used with patients who were unlikely to do well with open heart surgery. In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the approach for cases where surgery was possible but very risky.
A year later, the FDA greenlighted TAVR for intermediate-risk patients, creating a booming demand. Approval for low risk patients could come
later this year.
Neil Wimmer, M.D., Franjo Siric, M.D., and James Hopkins, M.D., collaborate during a TAVR procedure at Christiana Hospital.
“We project a much larger number of all of these procedures moving forward,” said Dr. Garratt. “And with good reason— patient outcomes for TAVR cases don’t just rival surgical outcomes but can actually exceed them. As a health system that promises effective service and value, we provide expert care in leading-class facilities
so that patient risks are minimal and outcomes optimal.”
Dr. Garratt added that the OR meets today’s needs and is also designed for tomorrow’s expectations. “Along with our TAVR work, the mitral procedures we do today are cutting edge, and we know there’s a revolution coming in mitral valve care,” he said. “This space has been configured to accommodate all of that and then some.”
Kirk Garratt, M.D., M.Sc.
An OR for today — and tomorrow
A focus of the hybrid OR is minimally invasive valve procedures likeTAVR.
“We’ve seen a large shift from open surgical procedures, so we need the technology and space to meet this need in our community,” said Billie Speakman, MBA, RRT, FABC, vice president for Heart
& Vascular Services and Women & Children’s Services.
Annually at Christiana Care, more than 34% of all cardiac procedures are valve related, and the demand is experiencing a growth spurt.
Best experiences, best outcomes
Improvement, like adding these two facilities, is a continuous effort at a health system ranked by U.S. News and World Report
as a leader in heart failure care, heart bypass surgery, aortic valve surgery and abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, among other non-
Theart and vascular services.
he new spaces are part of a larger system-wide standardization of care initiative focused on providing the best patient experience and outcomes and most value to the health system and larger community.
“In heart care delivery there’s tremendous variation across the country, both in how patients are selected for procedures and how the procedures are conducted,” said Dr. Garratt. “We’re spending a lot of time now in cardiovascular care and other parts of our organization looking at how we deliver care.”
This standardization, he added, never replaces the patient-first focus. Rather, it provides a proven starting point for treating specific conditions and diseases. C O N T I N U E D
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