Aortic Valve Disease

While we created the Aortic Center at Mount Sinai to address complex aortic disease, our cardiac and vascular surgeons, along with our team of cardiologists and interventional radiologists, also treat more common aortic conditions, including valve disease. In fact, Mount Sinai Medical Center is home to the Mount Sinai Heart Institute, Florida’s premier cardiovascular program. Backed by Columbia University, our program offers patients access to the only Ivy League-affiliated cardiovascular program in South Florida.

In addition, patients with aortic valve disease can take advantage of some of the most advanced treatment options available, including minimally invasive valve repair and valve replacement procedures (AVR or SAVR), as well as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR. Our team uses these approaches and other techniques to treat the following aortic valve conditions:

• Aortic valve stenosis: This condition is characterized by a thickened, stiff, and calcified aortic valve which, rather than opening freely, obstructs the flow of blood out of the heart. When the patient has aortic stenosis as the only cardiac problem, placement of a new aortic valve through the artery in the groin, without chest surgery, is usually possible. The Mount Sinai team excels at this procedure.
• Aortic valve regurgitation: This condition features a backflow of blood in the heart because the aortic valve doesn’t close properly. Aortic valve regurgitation is also commonly associated with aortic root aneurysms.
• Bicuspid aortic valve and congenital aortic valve disorders: Patients with this condition are born with two leaflets on the aortic valve instead of three, and it often leads to a leaky aortic valve or a narrowed valve. In either case it may also be associated with aortic root aneurysms.