BARCELONA – An analysis of FRANCE 2 registry showed that local anesthesia during the transfemoral aortic valve replacement procedure is a safe and effective option, compared with general anesthesia.
The study was performed based on data from 2010 and 2011, and at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology, Dr. Romain Chopard of the University Hospital of Besançon, Paris, and his coinvestigators reported that the practice is rather common – even routine in some centers – today.
But, performing TAVR under local anesthesia is not common practice in the United States, said Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.
In a video, Dr. Bhatt shares his thoughts on performing local anesthesia and why it hasn’t taken hold in the United States. He also shares his advice with physicians who perform the TAVR procedure.
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