It has been a decade – this month – that Edwards Lifesciences’ Sapien heart valve was approved by the Food and Drug Administration to non-invasively replace the diseased aortic heart valve for patients who couldn’t undergo open heart surgery.
It was a pivotal moment in treating aortic stenosis, and since then Edwards and Medtronic have introduced various versions and improvements on their respective devices to bring this procedure to more and more people.
This episode of MedCity’s Pivot Podcast features Larry Wood, corporate vice president of TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) with Edwards who knows the history of this important innovation and believes there is still much to be done in terms of widespread adoption.
