MANSFIELD, Ohio – OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital now offers a less invasive heart valve replacement surgery called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). Interventional cardiologist Yohannes Bayissa, MD, led the team that successfully performed the first TAVRprocedure at Mansfield Hospital on June 10. Dr. Bayissa has specialized training and extensive experience in less invasive heart valve surgical procedures and is launching the structural heart program in Mansfield. This advanced program makes Mansfield Hospital the only hospital in the region to offer less invasive nonsurgical approaches to valve replacement and stroke prevention.
“The number one reason people left our region for heart valve treatment was seeking a nonsurgical approach to correcting a diseased valve without undergoing major open heart surgery,” said Gregory Eaton, MD, interventional cardiologist at Mansfield Hospital and system chief of the OhioHealth Heart and Vascular Services, Northern Region. “Patients wanted the ability to go home that day or the next compared to a four- to seven-day hospital stay. Our community deserves to receive ‘big city’ care close to home.”
Aortic valve stenosis is a disease in which a valve narrows and restricts blood flow causing shortness of breath, chest pain and even episodes of passing out. Traditional valve replacement surgery requires the opening of the chest cavity. The TAVR replacement procedure is performed with a catheter that is threaded through an artery in the groin. Patients with aortic valve stenosis are prime candidates for TAVR. Patients who undergo the TAVR procedure oftentimes may go home the next day.
Mansfield Hospital also recently announced another less-invasive procedure available for patients with atrial fibrillation to help prevent strokes. The procedure called a Watchman implant is for those patients who need an alternatives to blood thinners. The Watchman implant prevents stoke by closing the left atrial appendage where clots tend to form in the heart.
Dr. Eaton points out that advanced heart and vascular services like TAVR and Watchman are part of the visionary strategy to keep more care local. “We will continue to concentrate our efforts in providing the region’s most advanced heart and vascular services that no other facility in north central Ohio can provide.”
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OhioHealth is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, charitable, healthcare outreach of the United Methodist Church.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, OhioHealth has been recognized as one of the top five large health systems in America by Truven Health Analytics, an honor it has received six times. It is also recognized by FORTUNE as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” and has been for 13 years in a row, 2007-2019.
Serving its communities since 1891, it is a family of 30,000 associates, physicians and volunteers, and a network of 12 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites, hospice, home-health, medical equipment and other health services spanning a 47-county area.
OhioHealth hospitals include OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, OhioHealth Doctors Hospital, OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Hardin Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth Marion General Hospital, OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital, OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, OhioHealth Shelby Hospital, OhioHealth Grove City Methodist Hospital and OhioHealth Berger Hospital. For more information, please visit our website at www.ohiohealth.com.