Patients too fragile to undergo open-heart surgery will soon have a new option for life-saving cardiac care at the Regina General Hospital.Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) is a minimally-invasive procedure that allows people with no other options to live longer and healthier lives.

“It was always my hope to help develop this program here in Saskatchewan,” says Dr. Jeff Booker, an interventional cardiologist and clinical program head of TAVI. “TAVI has an amazing future in helping us care for patients. It is a less invasive way of treating aortic stenosis in patients who would not survive traditional surgery.”

TAVI repairs the aortic valve without removing the old, damaged valve. Instead, doctors make a small incision in the femoral artery and place a replacement valve inside the existing valve.

“There are so many benefits to patients,” says Dr. Booker, a Saskatchewan-born doctor who specialized in internal medicine in Saskatoon and cardiology in Calgary, before accepting a fellowship with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. “It can be done under conscious sedation with local anesthetic and freezing, so patients can be discharged the next day or shortly thereafter. We are seeing patients recover faster, with better outcomes.”

The TAVI program is a provincial initiative that will be based in the Mosaic Heart Centre at the Regina General Hospital. Dr. Booker, along with his Saskatoon-based colleague Dr. Paul Basran, is pioneering the program, which will initially allow up to 25 procedures per year. While TAVI is offered in other provinces, this is a first for Saskatchewan. A major challenge for the program right now, however, is funding the high cost valves.

According to Steven Klotz, manager of interventional cardiac services, a new value is extremely expensive. “The procedure is intended only for very high risk, inoperable patients,” he says. “It is the last and only option for these people.”

He expects high demand for TAVI, and hopes positive outcomes will influence the ability to offer more procedures. “Ideally, you would never have a waiting list,” he says.

In the past, patients needing the procedure have been sent out of province, so having it available in Saskatchewan will be a huge boon for patients here, according to Executive Director of the Critical Care and Cardiosciences Program Lori Garchinsk.

“Some people don’t want to go out of province because they are away from their family support, or may even be the support for an elderly spouse,” she explains. She says the TAVI program will complement the already strong cardiac program in Regina that has long been supported by Hospitals of Regina Foundation. “We are smaller than places like Switzerland or the U.S., but we are confident that our patients are going to receive excellent care.”

Dr. Booker says he is excited to see how TAVI will change patient care. “We are just scratching the surface. We are going to treat the sickest people and show how great it can be. This is a huge step forward in helping people here in Saskatchewan.”