William Acquavella Heart Valve Center

The William Acquavella Heart Valve Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine is dedicated to:

• Providing outstanding care for patients with all types of valve diseases and disorders
• Developing and evaluating new, less invasive techniques for repairing and replacing damaged mitral, aortic, and pulmonary valves

Our center's team of experts have played a leading role in clinical trials assessing the latest percutaneous valve replacement approaches, meaning greater experience than most centers in these emerging new techniques.

TAVR at the William Acquavella Heart Valve Center

Some patients may qualify for a promising technique called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). With this minimally invasive treatment, doctors implant a small device into the heart valve with catheters (open-heart surgery is not required). This transformative technique has made valve replacement possible for many patients who cannot tolerate conventional heart surgery, and who otherwise, would not have had any other treatment options.

The cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons at the Acquavella Heart Valve were investigators of the national clinical trials proving the effectiveness of TAVR. TAVR is an FDA-approved treatment and is covered by Medicare and most major insurances.

See video simulations of the TAVR procedure produced by the manufacturer, Edwards of the SAPIEN valve. 

PARTNER Trial – NewYork- Presbyterian

Drs. Shing-Chiu Wong and Geoffrey Bergman discuss the PARTNER clinical trial. PARTNER is an acronym for "Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valve." This large, multi-center trial examines the effectiveness of the Edwards SAPIEN Transcatheter Heart Valve - a value used by surgeons to treat aortic stenosis.