BayCare is expanding access to advanced heart care in West Central Florida, with the structural heart team at BayCare’s St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa now joining BayCare’s Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater in offering the only FDA-approved transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement (TTVR) system for severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR). The minimally invasive treatment option reinforces BayCare’s continued commitment to bringing innovative, life-changing care closer to home.
According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 1.6 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with tricuspid regurgitation, a condition in which the tricuspid valve does not close properly and causes blood to flow backward into the right atrium. Left untreated, it can lead to life-threatening complications, including heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, an enlarged right atrium, arrhythmias and liver dysfunction.
For many patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation, traditional open-heart surgery may be too risky, leaving few treatment options as symptoms progress. The Edwards EVOQUE TTVR system offers a minimally invasive alternative by replacing the leaking valve without the need for open-heart surgery.
“We are proud to be among the few offering patients this groundbreaking advancement in the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation,” said Phillips Harrington, MD, FACS, cardiothoracic surgeon and director of St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Structural Heart and Valve Program. “This allows us to do more than manage symptoms with medication. We can offer hope.”
