Baptist Heart & Vascular Institute Reaches Program Milestone, Performs 1,000+ Structural Heart Procedures

4/19/2021

Baptist Heart & Vascular Institute (BHVI) recently celebrated a milestone in patient care provided by its structural heart program. The team has performed more than 1,000 structural heart procedures since the program began in 2014.

Structural heart procedures use leading-edge technologies to treat a variety of ailments including heart valve disorders, atrial fibrillation, aortic stenosis, heart failure, angina and others. Transcatheter mitral valve repair transcatheter paravalvular leak occlusion, left atrial appendage occlusion to prevent stroke, atrial septal defect closure and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are all non-surgical procedures that are performed in a heart catheterization, or cath, lab. All can help avoid the need for traditional open-heart surgery in certain patients.

“We are proud to provide such advanced procedures to our community and our patients. Our program is nationally ranked within the top 2% of structural heart programs, and we continue to attract the best and brightest heart experts from across the United States. Their skills coupled with the latest available technology save lives every day,” said Victor Hall, vice president, cardiovascular services for Baptist Health Care.

BHVI has led the way among Northwest Florida hospitals by offering these and other highly specialized lifesaving technology and therapies to treat heart disease including valve repair, valve replacement, clot retrieval, repair of holes in the heart, including: TAVR, MitraClip, Micra pacemaker, Impella heart pump, transmyocardial revascularization (TMR) laser procedure, AngioVac, Watchman, atrial septal defect (ASD) and patent foramen ovals (PFO).

BHVI is also the first in the area to fully staff its cath lab with registered cardiovascular invasive specialists and registered cardiac electrophysiology specialists. The Baptist cardiac care unit, which is dedicated to specialized pre- and post-operative care for heart patients, is the first of its kind in the Southeast.

For more information about Baptist Heart & Vascular Institute, visit ebaptisthealthcare.org/heart or call 850.484.6500.