Ioannis Mavlios made St. Francis Hospital history when he became the first patient randomized for the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) study. The nationwide clinical trial allows a broader range of people to receive a revolutionary, minimally invasive device for aortic valve replacement, allowing patients like Mavlios to avoid open-heart surgery.
“I feel great and even better knowing many more people will be able to have the same procedure I did,” said the retired 81-year-old auto mechanic, who’s already getting back to his favorite pastimes, such as gardening, now that he’s received this new lease on life.
Until recently, the life-saving technology has only been approved for patients who are too elderly or ill to undergo open-heart surgery. But it’s currently being tested on people at low risk for surgical complications in the hope of eventually using it on an expanded population of patients.
The Roslyn hospital was the first in New York state and the second in the nation to be activated for this major trial. The study is being led by George Petrossian, MD, and Newell Robinson, MD, co-directors of the Heart Valve Center at St. Francis. Their findings from a previous landmark study led to FDA approval of the device for patients who were not well enough to undergo open-heart surgery.
“He looks great,” said Petrossian when first seeing his pioneering patient during a follow-up visit. “We believe positive outcomes like this can potentially change the course of treatment for many patients suffering from aortic valve stenosis within the next five years.”
—Submitted by St. Francis Hospital
