MGM Healthcare Chennai certified as India’s first Centre of Excellence for TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement) by Edwards Lifesciences from USA
Mumbai: MGM Healthcare, a leading quaternary care super-specialty hospital in the heart of Chennai city, announced today that it has been certified as the India’s first Centre of Excellence for TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement) by Edwards Lifesciences. The TAVR certification will further allow MGM Healthcare to implement finest health practices and achieve successful real-world treatment outcomes.
Edwards Life sciences granted MGM Healthcare Chennai with the first TAVR Centre of Excellence in India certification because of the most cutting-edge treatments performed by the TAVR team at the hospital. There are only two US FDA approved TAVR valves currently available in India. These are the only valves which have the longest and the most robust data on efficiency and outcomes on patients and one of them is Edwards Lifesciences from USA.
TAVR (Transcatheter aortic valve replacement) is a procedure to treat aortic stenosis, a type of heart valve disease that does not require open-heart surgery. TAVR has now become the standard of care for Heart Valve Replacement for many patients across the world. TAVR involves replacing the diseased valve with a new valve (TAVR Valve) which is positioned in the heart through a small blood vessel in the groin. This allows patients to recover in a day or two and allow them to lead a normal life in just 3-4 days.
Dr. A B Gopalamurugan, Senior Consultant Cardiologist and Director for TAVR, MGM Healthcare shared his views and said, “We at MGM Healthcare are truly honored by this recognition, not only because it reflects our institution’s commitment to healthcare excellence, but also demonstrates our patient-first approach. TAVR procedure provides faster recovery times, excellent real-world outcomes and eliminates the need to undergo open heart surgery up to a great extent. This recognition will help us in bringing world-class infrastructure and establish MGM Healthcare as the pioneer in TAVR.”
He further added, “It was an honor and pleasure to intersect with so many senior cardiologists across the country for the TAVR Program recently. It was an intense and exciting this knowledge sharing exercise for the team at MGM. I am glad it will help us in spreading more public awareness about TAVR in the country.”
Dr. Gopalamurugan heads the TAVR team at MGM hospital and had introduced the first ever TAVR to Tamilnadu in June 2015. Therefore the longest living TAVR patient in India to date is from 2015 who underwent TAVR treatment by Dr. Gopalamurugan and the patient continues to lead an active life 6 years after the treatment. Dr. Gopalamurugan has introduced many TAVR procedures for the first time to India and many for the first time in the world. As a result he and his team are well known for TAVR in India and globally. He also introduced TAVR facility to the government hospital as a result of which Tamilnadu became the first state government in the entire country to start TAVR treatments for needy patients. Dr. Gopalamurugan at MGM Hospital Chennai holds a Guinness World Record in the field of TAVR.
The first TAVR Centre of Excellence (COE) program was conducted at MGM Healthcare Chennai on 5th August 2021 where senior heart specialists from (cardiologists) across the country flew down to MGM Chennai to watch and learn how to do cutting-edge heart treatments like TAVR. During the program Dr. A B Gopalamurugan performed a live TAVR with no general anesthesia where he replaced an elderly patient’s heart valve without open heart surgery and without general anesthesia and the patient walked away the following day. During the program senior cardiologists who came to watch the procedure from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai were able to gain immense knowledge from the session and witness the cutting-edge infrastructure available at the hospital for TAVR procedure.