Interventional Cardiology

We’ve refined our coordination and teamwork to a science.

Treatments and Procedures

• Atherectomy
• Balloon valvuloplasty
• Cardiac resynchronization therapy
• Cutting catheter for patients with chronic total occlusions (CTOs)
• Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
• Transcatheter mitral valve edge-toedge repair
• Transcatheter mitral valve replacement
• Transcatheter left atrial appendage closure device implantation

Protected TAVR Procedure

The WVU Heart and Vascular Institute is one of the few programs in the United States (and the only one in West Virginia) offering cerebral embolic protection during TAVR called Protected TAVR.

The majority of patients undergoing TAVR have severe valvular calcifications and frail plaque materials on the aorta. These materials can be dislodged during the procedure and may then travel to the brain and cause a stroke.

Because of this, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute implemented protected TAVR using the Sentinel Cerebral Protection System, the first FDA-cleared device available in the U.S. to capture and remove this debris before it reaches the brain. The device has been shown to reduce strokes by 63 percent during the procedure and in the first 72 hours after it, when most strokes occur.

In a protected TAVR procedure, the Sentinel system is delivered first via a small tube inserted through a small puncture in the right wrist. Using a catheter, two filters are placed in the two main arteries between the heart and brain. Those filters collect debris throughout the procedure, preventing it from traveling to the brain. When the procedure is complete, the filters and collected debris are removed from the patient.

Since the Sentinel Cerebral Protection System was recently made available to the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, we have employed it routinely in every patient undergoing TAVR. In most cases, we can predict the ability to position the Sentinel system from a CT scan obtained routinely before the TAVR procedure.

The initial clinical trial of the device included 19 centers across the U.S. and Germany and showed that it captured debris in 99 percent of TAVR cases. The device was then made available to 10 additional sites, of which the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute is one.

Coronary Intervention overview with Dr. Vikrant Jagadeesan

Our Interventional Cardiology Faculty

Locations

Through partnerships and affiliations with local hospitals and clinics, we bring access to complete comprehensive care for patients across West Virginia, and into surrounding regions, including Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and beyond.