CGHMC Successfully Performs Philippines’ First TAVR Procedure with the Edwards SAPIEN Valve

The Structural Heart Team at the Heart Institute (HI) of the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC), led by its Head, Dr. Timothy Dy, successfully performed the country’s first Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) with the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve (THV). The Sapien valve is one of the most widely used THV globally, and CGHMC is the first hospital in the Philippines to use it.
The Edwards SAPIEN Valve was the first TAVR Therapy to be FDA-approved in the U.S. Only select hospitals are performing the procedure on qualified inoperable and high-risk patients. The TAVR team is composed of Dr. Timothy Dy, Dr. Jessielyn Sia, Dr. Nelson Lee, Dr. Aristides Panlilio, and Dr. Theresa Menor. Dr. Mao-shin Lin from Taiwan, an experienced TAVR implanter was also present.

While this is the hospital’s first Edwards Sapien Valve implantation, it is not the hospital’s first TAVR. CGHMC is one of the original TAVR implanters in 2012 and has done close to 300 cases with different valves since. The first patient to undergo the Edwards SAPIEN Valve implantation is an 84-year-old woman with severe aortic stenosis. After her successful procedure, she is set to go home after only a couple of days of recuperation in the hospital.

TAVR is minimally invasive, which means it uses smaller access sites than open-heart valve surgery. It may be an option for patients who can’t undergo heart surgery to replace the aortic valve. TAVR can help reduce chest pain, shortness of breath, and other symptoms of aortic valve stenosis. People who undergo TAVR often have a significantly shorter hospital stay than those who have surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).

The procedure is just one of the many “firsts” for the CGHMC HI. In the past 10 years alone, the HI had the country’s first successful MitraClip Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER) in 2014 and the country’s first Watchman Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion (LAAO) implantation in 2016. This adds to the groundbreaking work the CGHMC HI has done previously in Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR) and Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) that started in 2000.

The Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center – Heart Institute continues to push boundaries and achieve remarkable milestones in cardiac care. These accomplishments underscore our unwavering commitment to providing the highest quality of care to our patients.

For more information, contact the CGHMC Heart Institute at (02)8711 4141 local 291. Your heart health is our priority, and we are here to serve you with compassion and expertise.

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