Our Lady of the Lake Heart & Vascular Institute Performs 1,000th TAVR Procedure
July 20, 2022
HVI team is first to reach millennium milestone in the region, nine years after bringing the revolutionary surgery to Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, LA – Our Lady of the Lake Heart & Vascular Institute performed its 1,000th TAVR procedure today and celebrated the occasion with a special event at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.
Physicians, politicians, media, and dozens of other guests gathered in the HVI Lobby to both mark the occasion and discuss the future of the region’s leading cardiovascular unit. The millennium milestone emphasizes the sustained excellence and continuous innovation of the HVI team, which performed the region’s first Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) in 2013.
“I am extremely proud to be a part of one of the best cardiovascular teams in the South, one that endlessly strives to bring the best possible care to our patients,” said Denzil Moraes, MD, HVI Chief Medical Officer at Our Lady of the Lake. “TAVR and other cutting-edge procedures available at Our Lady of the Lake provide hope to patients living with chronic heart and vascular conditions.”
The procedure has steadily grown in frequency over the years, with the HVI structural heart team now performing roughly 200 surgeries per year. The team consists of four cardiovascular surgeons and five interventional cardiologists: William Boedefeld, MD; Walter Bringaze, III, MD; Carl Rigby, MD; Terry Stelly, MD; Jorge Castellanos, MD; Federico De Puy, MD; Harold Helmke, MD; Steven Kelley, MD; and Venkat Suakanti, MD.
TAVR is an advanced, minimally invasive procedure that replaces a diseased aortic valve with a man-made valve without the need for open heart surgery. The surgery typically uses a transfemoral approach, which enters through the femoral artery in the groin and does not require a surgical incision in the chest.
For more information about Our Lady of the Lake HVI and TAVR, visit ololrmc.com/hvi.
About Our Lady of the Lake Health
Our Lady of the Lake Health is a not-for-profit Catholic healthcare ministry based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with more than 7,500 employees committed to serving the Capital Region and building a healthy community through excellence in patient care and education. With an 800-bed Regional Medical Center, a dedicated Children’s Hospital, a 78-bed hospital in Gonzales, Louisiana, two freestanding emergency rooms in outlying parishes, and a 600+ provider Physician Group, Our Lady of the Lake Health provides comprehensive healthcare services for common to complex conditions. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center is a primary teaching site for graduate medical education programs in partnership with LSU, and is recognized in the areas of heart and vascular, trauma and emergency care, stroke, cancer care, minimally invasive procedures, and more. Our Lady of the Lake is part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System and is driven by its mission to serve all God’s people, especially those most in need. For more information, visit ololrmc.com.