Procedure performed under the supervision of Professor Allan Cribier, founder of the new technique known as TAVI

DHA hospitals are the only ones in Dubai to perform this procedure

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, February 5, 2012: Cardiologists from the Dubai Health Authority recently performed a minimally invasive cardiac procedure for five elderly patients in Dubai.

The latest technique, known as Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) is a unique therapy which may be used as an alternative to standard surgical aortic valve replacement. The procedure is performed on the beating heart without the need for a sternotomy or cardiopulmonary bypass.

Team members comprising of specialists including interventional cardiologists, anesthesiologists, nurses, radiologists successfully performed these procedures for three Emirati and two expatriate patients.

DHA hospitals- Dubai and Rashid are the only hospitals in Dubai to perform this new technique.

Dr. Fahad Baslaib, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist and Director of Rashid Hospital's Cardiology Department said, "This technology has been developed for those patients who cannot tolerate open heart surgery and or run a high risk with surgical procedures. The beauty of this technique is that it is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure which means no hospitalization is required, the period of recovery is much quicker and this amounts to better patient outcomes."

Dr Baslaib added that this procedure is particularly helpful for elderly patients who often develop a narrow aortic valve.

He said this technique is one of the latest minimally invasive procedure and DHA team members recently visited Switzerland to master this technique.

Dr. Talib K. Majwal, Consultant, Interventional Cardiology & Director of Interventional Cardiology, Dubai Heart Center, Dubai Hospital said, "In this workshop we successfully performed this procedure for five patients all aged between 60 to 80 years. The workshop was supervised by Professor Allan Cribier, the founder of the new technique.

"Previously patients had to travel abroad for this treatment and the cost of performing this procedure abroad is five times more than the cost of performing it locally."

This is the second workshop for the DHA team; the first one was performed in November 2011, on four patients, aged 60 to 90 years.

Both Dubai Hospital and Rashid Hospital have highly advanced cardiology sections and this adds to the various facilities available at the hospitals. The Rashid Hospital Cardiology Section is one of the few hospitals in the Emirate to have a fully dedicated Adult Congenital Heart Disease clinic. It also boats of a state-of-the-art catherization laboratory, cardiac rehabilitation services and the department performs invasive and non-invasive cardiac procedures.

Dubai Hospital provides through its Dubai Heart Centre, both a cardiac unit and the cardiothoracic surgery unit. The hospital, along with specialists from abroad, has performed over 250 free catherization and heart surgeries from 2007, for children aged newborn to nineteen years. Priority is given to those who most need these services.

About the Dubai Health Authority:
Initially, the Department of Health and Medical Services (DOHMS), which was created in 1973, was the functioning authority that almost exclusively focused on health service delivery.

Therefore, the DHA was created, in June 2007, by Law 13 issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, with an expanded vision to include strategic oversight for the complete health sector in Dubai and enhance private sector engagement.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and Industry is the President of the Dubai Health Authority. His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid is the Director General of the DHA

The DHA mandate has two distinct functions: Sectoral Oversight - For the entire health sector in Dubai- public, private and free zone and Service Delivery at DHA facilities.

For more information, please contact:
Heba Al Shaar
Director of Institutional Marketing and Communications
Dubai Health Authority
communication@dha.gov.ae
009714 2197455

© Press Release 2012