20 cardiac teams pledge to raise awareness on less invasive treatments

Kauvery Hospital part of TAVR World Tour on World Heart Day

On World Heart Day, 20 cardiac specialist teams from 20 different cities across the world performed the same procedure across the globe in synchrony to raise public awareness about modern cardiac treatments such as Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement or TAVR that are less invasive than conventional open heart surgery to replace a heart valve.

TAVR is an alternative to conventional open-heart surgeries, which reportedly reduces recovery time to two days in most cases. This in turn reduces the risks involved, which is all the more important under the current circumstances of COVID-19.

The TAVR World Tour is an initiative by The Heart Valve Centre India, a unit of HeartTeam India, led by Dr A B Gopalamurugan and team consisting of Dr Prashant Vaijyanath, Dr Mohamed Abubacker and Dr Karthik Raj, who currently operate out of Kauvery Hospital, Chennai.

Capturing the spirit of “one team, one heart,” 20 surgical teams from 20 leading medical centres around the globe, with different time zones pledged to stand together to make this record-making global awareness campaign a big success. This event marks a milestone in medical history that 20 medical teams have successfully performed the same procedure across the globe in synchrony.

The event was inaugurated by Dr C Vijayabaskar, State Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu. Dr. Alain Cribier, who is known to have invented the TAVR procedure was one of the panellists among other doctors from France, Germany, UK, Hungary, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, China, Thailand, Australia, the US and South America.