[ Ссылка ] - A problem with his heart valve made it difficult for Jim Farrington of Biddeford, Maine to walk even a few feet without losing his breath. He was too ill for open heart surgery, but a minimally invasive procedure performed only at Maine Medical Center allowed doctors to replace Jim's faulty heart valve. Now he's enjoying his independence once again.

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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

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Jim Farrington: I'm out here already. Oh baby. Oh sweetheart. This procedure has changed my life because I can do things that I couldn't do before [music]. Good girl Molly. You're a good girl. Yes you are. Before the surgery, I couldn't walk very fast. I walked the dogs I have to the end of the street to get the mail. I'd have to stop every 15, 20 seconds to catch my breath. And I said, this is not right. I've got to have this corrected.

David Butzel, MD: The diagnosis is called aortic valve stenosis. So in a normal when the heart squeezes, the valve starts closed and it opens wide. Through time, those valves scar down; they start to fail. And so when the heart squeezes, instead of the valve starting closed and opening wide, it starts closed and opens just a little bit. That makes it really hard for the heart to squeeze blood through it to the body. And pressure backs up into the lungs, and people typically present, feeling very short of breath or with chest pain.

Jim Farrington: Oh Max, you big scaredy cat. They couldn't do open heart because I had open heart surgery back in 2004. If they had to open my heart again, I would be in there for a month [background conversations].

David Butzel, MD: TAVR is a new procedure. It's been designed for patients who are too sick to go through a traditional open heart valve replacement. So what's been developed is another way to give them a new valve. And what is actually performed is that a valve is placed inside a stent, which is a coiled, metal tube. And that stent is advanced from the leg artery, all the way up backwards through the aorta to the heart. And it's put inside the old valve by deploying the stent. We're very lucky because our heart surgeons and our cardiologists all work together. Our incentives are very much so aligned, where we want to bring new technologies to the hospital. And we're able to do that in a cooperative way.

Jim Farrington: Get a picture of that. My wife wants it. See that sticker? I was just at I think out I think on three days later. And it was great. I mean I couldn't wait to come home and see my little dogs. Oh she's such a beautiful girl. I feel a lot better now. I can breathe. I'm an independent guy anyway. I always was. So yeah, it's great to be back on track. Start and enjoy life again.

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