Scottsdale, Ariz. November 27, 2024 – HonorHealth, a leading healthcare system serving more than five million people in the greater Phoenix and Scottsdale areas, achieved a groundbreaking milestone as the first non-clinical trial site to perform the first tricuspid valve replacement in Arizona using the FDA-approved Edwards EVOQUE system. The EVOQUE system is the world's first transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement therapy. This advanced technique utilizes a catheter to implant an artificial, self-expanding tricuspid valve to prevent or reduce tricuspid regurgitation, the backflow of blood into the upper right chamber of the heart.
“Roughly 1.6 million Americans have moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation, but when discovered early, it can easily be managed. When it becomes moderate or severe, it can be life limiting and potentially, life threatening,” says Haidar Yassin, MD, interventional cardiologist with HonorHealth Heart Care. “Through this treatment, we can improve quality of life, relieve symptoms such as tiredness, shortness of breath and fatigue.”
“HonorHealth Heart Care is a leader in aortic, mitral and pulmonary valve care, and this is the next logical step to provide complete heart care for our patients,” says Riana Kielly, hospital administrator, HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center. “These innovative procedures require collaboration between multiple specialists and teams before, during and after the procedure. At HonorHealth, we already have these teams in place.”
Yassin and Robert Riley, MD, network director, cardiothoracic surgery with HonorHealth Heart Care, were part of the multi-disciplinary team that completed the first procedure at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in December 2024.