Consider the revolutionary TAVR procedure

St. Luke’s Medical Center ( SLMC) continues to show its excellence in medical procedures with a successful Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) on its 23rd patient, noted opera singer Josie Bailen, a UP voice professor who attested to the wonders of the non-invasive surgery performed on her last year.

Bailen, who is short of breath though just walking before undergoing the medical procedure, was effusive about the way the team of SLMC doctors took care of her after the TAVR.

The procedure includes a noninvasive heart valve replacement due to severe aortic stenosis involving a life-threatening narrowing of the aortic valve.

The celebrated opera singer now has a better quality of life, thanks to the TAVR and to the team of doctors led by Dr. Fabio Enrique Posas of SLMC who valiantly nursed Bailen to normal life.

Now Bailen can walk longer distances. Before, she had to be transported by a wheelchair. She can now enjoy the musical land- scape and that of her children who chipped in to fund the procedure.

What the Bailen family also found out was that the TAVR was not as costly and, in fact, if they had immediately gone to SLMC for the procedure, the family need not have spent a tidy sum in various hospitals and clinics.

For Josie’s daughter, Agnes, a lawyer who works in Congress, middle income bracket families should consider TAVR for their loved ones.

“The lesson that we learned first is, if you’re sick, go to the best. Because if you don’t go to the best you will just be incurring expenses without being cured. If we went directly to Posas and underwent the TAVR immediately, we wouldn’t have spent millions,” said Agnes Bailen.

Agnes stressed that the sooner patients consider TAVR as their treatment option, the more economical it would be for them in the long run.

“Because we prolonged it, we spent about P2 million for that. If we had known about the TAVR immediately, we could have gone straight here and could have lessened the cost... and mom wouldn’t have to undergo the suffering,” she said.

Non-invasive surgery is now the wave especially for the elderly and those with multiple medical risks. For Bailen, 74, the TAVR was much preferable to open valve replacement, which is an invasive procedure.

According to Posas, the TAVR procedure is now being offered in the country as a way to improve the lives of those with narrowed aortic valves.

“By harnessing new technologies and making them accessible to people who need them, we not only expand our ability to treat patients but also extend their lives and enhance their quality of life. At our institution, our aim is to find viable solutions to patients under strict quality controlled environments and systems, “he said.

For inquiries on the TAVR, please call St. Luke’s Medical Center-Global City’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at 7897700.