HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe is one of the first hospitals in Montgomery County to provide an alternative to heart surgery, according to a press release Dec. 12.

The hospital now offers a minimally invasive Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR, procedure to replace a narrowed aortic valve with a catheter, instead of open heart surgery.

“Historically, this procedure has been offered only in the Texas Medical Center and in southwest Houston—to be one of the first facilities to bring it to Montgomery County is very significant,” said Dr. Connie Hutton, a cardiovascular surgeon at HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, in a press release.

Dr. Osman Jaffer said in the press release that one of the major benefits of the procedure is that TAVR does not utilize a bypass machine, which takes over the functions of the heart and lungs during open heart surgery. He said recovery time for TAVR is also reduced to one to two days as compared to the typical three to five.

The press release said the list of qualifying TAVR
patients was recently expanded by the Federal Drug Administration to include low-risk patients in addition to patients at immediate risk and those considered high-risk for open heart surgery.


Hutton—who works on every TAVR procedure at HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe—and a team of cardiologists completed several successful procedures when the alternative was made available in November.

“The patients are doing very well,” said Matt Davis, CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, in the release. “I am extremely proud of our team who contributed to the success of our first TAVR cases and know many more will benefit from HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe’s continued commitment to raise the bar in patient care.”

504 Medical Center Blvd., Conroe. 936-539-1111. www.hcahoustonhealthcare.com/locations/conroe