Indication – aortic valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve, pulmonary valve. Everyone has four heart valves. They ensure that our blood circulation “runs smoothly”.
To ensure that all of our organs receive oxygen and energy, the heart muscle constantly pumps blood through the body. Oxygen-rich blood flows from the left side of the heart into the arteries. Blood that is poor in oxygen is carried back to the right side of the heart through the veins. From there it flows further into the lungs, where it is again enriched with “fresh air”. Heart valves are the valves in this circuit. They ensure that the blood flows in the right direction.
Defective valve
If one of the valves is defective, this can have serious consequences. “There are two types of heart valve defects. They can occur singly or in combination, “explains Dr. Martin Arnold, chief physician at the Clinic of Cardiology, Angiology and Pulmonology am Eslingen Clinic.
“A narrowing or stricture causes blood to accumulate in front of the valve. In case of valve insufficiency, however, the valve no longer closes properly and the blood flows in the wrong direction ”.
catheter procedure
During a catheter procedure, the doctor does not have to open the chest to access the heart. Instead, an inguinal vein is punctured and a catheter, a flexible tube, is pushed from there to the heart. On the tip of the catheter there are special tools that can be used to operate “from the inside”. This happens under ultrasound and radiographic control, a monitor shows images of the heart.
“The operation is very delicate. There is no surgical wound, so the wound healing time is completely eliminated. In addition, we can operate with a beating heart and without general anesthesia, thus saving the lungs and heart the stress of artificial ventilation. “, says Dr. Arnaldo.
Catheter-assisted heart valve surgery requires a great deal of experience and sensitivity. PD Dr Arnold brings both: he worked for nearly 20 years at the Erlangen University Hospital, where he most recently headed the Heart Valve Intervention Program and the Rhythmology Department as a Senior Physician.
In 2022 it switched to Eslingen Clinic. Here the new head physician met an experienced team: around 70 catheter-supported heart valve reconstructions are performed annually in Esslingen. from different areas. “The Esslingen team is very well positioned: I have a cardiac ultrasound expert at my side during the procedure, as well as a heart anesthetist,” says Dr. Arnaldo.
