Transcatheter Aortic Valve replacement is replacing the aortic valve which is the main valve that let’s blood out of the heart through the leg. It’s a really exciting technology because aortic stenosis or narrowing of the aortic valve is a very common problem especially in the elderly.
When I first met Dr. Ferraro, when I first had my appointment with Dr. Ferraro he mentioned this procedure and he told me at my age and my condition I’d be a good candidate for that.
There’s a number of so-called comorbid conditions that made open heart surgery pretty risky to say the least in his case.
According to Dr. Ferraro he had the first, the first patient for that procedure and he’s real proud of that because what can I say, you know I’m number one.
The awesome part of this procedure is it’s a team approach okay, and we have so much expertise in the room at one time, it really benefits the patient tremendously.
What’s unbelievable though is recovery is right back at a normal rate, to I’m out of the hospital after two days, walking around doing anything I wanted to do at a slow pace.
We’re very pleased to be in this sort of so-called ground floor of this. There’s not many institutions in this country that are accepted for these technologies.
Because every time Dr. Ferraro sees me he calls me number one.
Michael Abramczyk Patient Story
Michael Abramczyk was the first patient to receive transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) by Dr. Robert Ferraro and the Cardiac team at UPMC Hamot.
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