What is a TAVI procedure?

Before the TAVI procedure

Ann Simpson was shocked to learn at 70 that she had a heart problem. In 2015, she was seeing a specialist about her thyroid (the neck gland that releases certain hormones into the body) and the specialist discovered she had a heart murmur.

She was diagnosed with aortic valve disease. This is where the valve that passes freshly oxygenated blood from the heart to the body doesn’t work as well as it should. “It came as a bolt out of the blue,” says Ann, now 78 and living in Tetbury in the Cotswolds.

It came as a bolt out of the blue

For the next few years Ann had regular check-ups at Cheltenham General Hospital to keep an eye on her heart. By April 2022, her condition had worsened to the point that something had to be done and she was referred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The changes happen so slowly, you don’t notice. It’s only after the procedure that you realise how affected you were before

At this point, Ann still wasn’t experiencing any symptoms. But over the next few months she felt increasingly breathless and tired: “It crept up on me,” she says. “Because my hip needs replacing, I’d been walking slowly anyway. But I could only walk for about 10 minutes. Instead of walking to the nearby recreation ground, I’d have to drive there, then let my dog go free.

"I became breathless walking up the stairs, so I’d only use them once a day. But the changes happen so slowly, you don’t notice. It’s only after the procedure that you realise how affected you were before.”

In February 2023, the cardiologist at Oxford told her that while he wouldn’t recommend open-heart surgery in her case, there was another procedure that could be used to replace her worsening aortic valve. It’s a method called TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) and it’s been increasingly used in the last decade, mostly for people who can’t have open-heart surgery.

• Find out more about shortness of breath

During the TAVI procedure

During TAVI, a new aortic heart valve is fitted using a thin tube, called a catheter, which is put in through a small cut in the upper leg, and passed up to the heart. TAVI puts less strain on the body compared to open-heart surgery and has a quicker recovery time, but it has some risks.

I was nervous. But I knew the alternative was ill health for life. Or worse

“They give you a leaflet which talks about the risk of stroke and heart attacks, so I was nervous,” says Ann. “But I knew the alternative was ill health for life. Or worse.”

Two weeks beforehand Ann had received a phone call to tell her the date of her procedure, 4 May 2023. She slept well in the hospital the night before but found the wait the next morning the most difficult part.

“I was number five of eight on the list. I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink. I was just waiting and wondering. It was nerve-wracking.” Fortunately, Ann had brought with her an iPad and a book, which kept her distracted until she eventually went to have the TAVI at 1:30pm.

There were about eight people in the theatre and they were all very professional and cheerful

The hour-long procedure was performed under local anaesthetic, so Ann was awake throughout, although under sedation. “I didn’t feel the tube going in, but I was aware of it,” recalls Ann. “There were about eight people in the theatre and they were all very professional and cheerful. I could hear them talking but I lay there and shut my eyes.”

Around the area where the tube went in, Ann experienced bleeding and bruising after the procedure. But she didn’t feel any pain and was closely monitored before being given the all-clear to leave hospital the next day. For her stay, she’d brought some comfortable clothes and walking sticks she uses to help with her hip.

• Read our tips on how to cope with pre-surgery anxiety

After the TAVI procedure

Back at home, the bruise healed quickly. “The scar was only the size of a pencil end,” says Ann. Some changes she noticed immediately: “If your valve hasn’t been opening properly, when it’s fixed, it feels like ‘boom, boom, boom’ through your body. I could feel my blood gushing and felt quite lightheaded. But it settled,” she says. On a more positive note, she adds, “Suddenly my feet were warm for the first time in years.”

For the first week, Ann took things easy. “My daughter is living with me at the moment, so it was convenient timing for the TAVI. After coming home, I just pottered around the house, knitting, and doing online bridge.”

After the first week she started doing some light housework and cooking. A couple of weeks later, she was walking her dog again. And after a month, she was back to driving and helping with her grandchildren’s school run.

Ann says: “I got more energetic as the weeks went on. It’s lovely not to be breathless and feel more awake and alert. I’ve now returned to my bridge club with my bridge partner Tricia. We we were delighted to come top in the first week’s competition! “I’m also gardening again. My daughter does the heavy lifting, but I can do more than before the procedure and have more energy to think about it.”

Equally important for Ann is that now she’s had the TAVI procedure, she can have her long-awaited hip replacement. “They wouldn’t operate until I had my heart fixed. The first thing I did on leaving hospital was ask to be put back on the waitlist.”

Having hip mobility issues means Ann can’t be as active as she’d like but her new heart valve has given her a new lease of life.

• Read our tips for adapting to life with a heart condition

What to read next...