Sunrise Hospital offers new heart procedure - FOX5 Vegas - KVVU
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Bob Hurd was looking for one thing to improve his quality of life at the age of 88.
"Get some more energy where I'm able to function," he says from his room inside Sunrise Hospital.
Hurd suffers from aortic valve stenosis, limiting the blood flow to his body. A valve transplant is the proper treatment for the disease, but Hurd's age doesn't allow for open heart surgery.
"For him to undergo open heart surgery would be extremely high risk, the recovery from that," says Sunrise cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Nauman Jahangir.
"Aortic stenosis, typically if it's not treated, it leads to a downward spiral," explains cardiologist Dr. Branavan Umakanthan.
Inside the Sunrise Hospital hybrid operating room, the valve replacement is made possible with a procedure called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.
"We go from the groin as opposed to opening the chest," says Umakanthan. "From the groin we have a little delivery sheath, or a little device, that will actually deliver the new valve."
Monday, Hurd was the first to have the surgery done in the state of Nevada. Jahangir, Umakanthan and two additional doctors preformed the surgery at Sunrise.
A balloon put the new valve in place in less than two hours and without the need to stop Hurd's heart.
Hurd realizes it's a bit complicated. "I forgot to go to medical school," he chuckles.
However, just 48 hours later, Hurd is sitting upright, smiling, attached only to a heart monitor.
"He doesn't look like he had surgery, he looks like he went to the bank and came back and fell asleep on his couch," says Dr. Alexander Delaney, Hurd's anesthesiologist.
The new technology, along with a good team of doctors, will send Hurd home Thursday morning.
"Those guys deserve all the credit, I just laid there and slept," said Hurd.
Copyright 2012 KVVU (KVVU Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
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