Heart Valve Replacement

What is Heart Valve Replacement?

Your heart has four valves that open to let blood pass through and then close to prevent blood from flowing back in the wrong direction. Valves can become blocked or narrowed (stenosis), or start leaking (regurgitation). If a diseased heart valve can't be repaired, it must be replaced.

Today, valve replacement operations are fairly commonplace. If you have heart valve disease, heart valve replacement surgery can improve your health and energy.

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UR Medicine's Approach

There are several types of valve replacement surgery:

The Ross Procedure uses the patient's own pulmonary valve as a replacement for the aortic valve. The pulmonary valve is then replaced with a valve from a human donor. Compared to traditional valve replacement using manufactured prosthetic valves, the Ross Procedure is most beneficial for young people and active older patients because the valve will last longer than a prosthetic valve and does not require blood thinners.
Homograft replacement is valve replacement with donated human aortic valves. The use of human valves decreases the risk of infection.
Prosthetic valve replacement is performed with mechanical heart valves and tissue valves for patients with aortic, mitral, tricuspid, and pulmonic valve disease.
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) is a less invasive approach to treat severe aortic valve disease.

What Sets Us Apart?

UR Medicine is a referral center for the most complex heart surgeries, which means other hospitals in upstate New York send their most challenging cases to us.

These other hospitals trust us because UR Medicine Cardiac Care leads the region in the number and scope of specialized services.

Our programs for heart failure, heart transplant, and cardio-oncology are unique in our area. These and other specialty programs ensure that you get the very latest treatments for a wide range of conditions, all based on a well-established, multidisciplinary approach.

As part of the only academic medical center in the area, we’re involved in studies of the latest treatments. So our patients’ care is informed by the very latest findings.