The Structural Heart Program

New Hope for Heart Patients

Our Lady of the Lake Heart and Vascular Institute's Structural Heart Program

Minimally invasive heart replacement and repair is our specialty.

Our Lady of the Lake is home to one of the largest structural heart programs in the region. Performing more than 200 transcatheter aortic valve replacements and more than 50 transcatheter mitral valve repairs every year, our structural heart prgram is your best choice for minimally invasive heart and valve care.

Structural heart disease is a relatively new subspecialty in cardiovascular disease care. Structural heart diseases refers to abnormalities of the "larger structures" of the heart, including the heart walls, valves and muscles. These abnormalities can be present at birth (congenital) or can develop later in life. These conditions are evaluated, discussed and treated using a multidisciplinary team of cardiac specialists, including cardiothoracic surgeons, interventional cardiologists and advanced cardiac imaging specialists. The evaluation process usually includes multimodality cardiac imaging technologies including echocardiography (ultrasound), computed tomography, conventional angiography (x-ray) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Many structural heart diseases were traditionally treated with open heart surgery. Today, technology has allowed for less invasive strategies to treat many of these conditions using catheter based devices delivered via a peripheral vein or artery, usually via "groin" access.


These disease states may be referred to as:

• Aortic valve stenosis
• Mitral valve stenosis and insufficiency
• Tricuspid insufficiency
• Pulmonic valve stenosis
• Paravalvular leaks
• Atrial septal defects
• Patent foramen ovale
• Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy
• Atrial fibrillation unable to take oral anticoagulants
• Ventricular septal defects
• Pulmonary vein stenosis