Heart Valve Care

Overview

Feel more strength and endurance when you get care for heart valve conditions at Ballad Health with locations in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

You’ll work with a team that reviews your health and advanced treatment options with you in as few visits as possible, so you get timely, convenient services.

Valve Repair & Replacement

If one or more heart valves have trouble controlling blood flow through your heart, a surgeon may reshape or rebuild flaps that open and close the valve.

But if your natural valve is too damaged to repair, the surgeon may replace it with a valve made of metal or biological material. Learn what to expect from heart valve surgery.

Minimally Invasive Valve Treatments

If you don’t qualify for valve surgery due to your age or overall health, ask your doctor about minimally invasive treatments. These options require just a tiny incision (cut in the skin) and speed your recovery.

MitraClip for leaky Mitral valves

To treat a leaking mitral valve, or mitral valve regurgitation, a doctor slides a tiny device called a MitraClip into an artery in the groin and threads it up to your heart. There, the device clips the valve to prevent blood from flowing backward.

Get this procedure at Holston Valley Medical Center, where experienced providers have been performing this treatment longer than most facilities in Tennessee and with great success.

Valvuloplasty

During valvuloplasty, a doctor threads a tiny balloon through an artery and up to a heart valve that doesn’t open fully because of disease or calcium buildup. When inflated, the balloon widens the valve opening and improves blood flow to relieve conditions such as aortic stenosis.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)

In transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a doctor treats aortic stenosis by sliding a tiny, uninflated balloon into an artery near your groin and threading it up to your heart. The balloon inflates and widens your narrowed aortic valve to make space for a new, artificial valve. Then, the doctor threads the valve replacement up to your heart and puts it in place over your worn-out, natural valve.

TAVR has shown improvement in a patient’s health as early as 30 days after the procedure.

This treatment can help you live longer and reduce your symptoms more than just medication.

Cardiac Rehabilitation

After heart valve surgery, cardiac rehabilitation helps you safely regain strength and endurance and reduce your risk of future heart conditions.

Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation

In addition to standard cardiac rehabilitation, if you’ve experienced a heart attack or other major heart event or have had a major heart procedure, Ballad offers Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehab.

This innovative program is available at the new Bill Gatton Center for Advanced Cardiac Rehab, which has locations in Bristol and Kingsport.

Learn more

For more information about any of these heart valve services, please contact:

  • Holston Valley Medical Center at (423) 230-6916
  • Johnson City Medical Center at (423) 929-7393