TUCSON, Ariz. – Sreekumar ”Kumar” Subramanian, MD, assistant professor, has joined the University of Arizona Department of Surgery Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. An expert in minimally invasive heart surgery, Dr. Subramanian is working to bring to The University of Arizona Medical Center a new procedure that potentially could help thousands of Americans who have failing valves and who previously were not candidates for treatment.

 

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in November, the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure enables treatment of high-risk patients with heart valve disease without open-heart surgery. This new technology received FDA approval for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are ineligible for traditional open-heart aortic valve replacement due to age or other medical conditions.

 

TAVR is a keyhole procedure used to repair the aortic valve – one of the four heart valves that control the flow of blood in and out of the heart. It is implanted through a patient’s groin.

 

Without treatment, heart valve disease can lead to heart failure and other complications, including death. The standard treatment of open-heart surgery is more dangerous for older, sicker patients as the recovery time is longer and many of them suffer from other health problems.

 

“This technology will allow us to improve the quality of life of very high-risk patients with aortic valve disease who were previously too sick to undergo operations,” Dr. Subramanian says.

 

Dr. Subramanian’s practice includes a broad spectrum within adult cardiac surgery, ranging from on-pump and beating heart coronary artery bypass surgery to minimally invasive heart-valve operations, surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation and minimally invasive procedures on the aorta. While he offers patients multiple minimally invasive surgical options, Dr. Subramanian also developed special expertise in reoperative and high-risk reoperative cardiovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

 

“It is important for patients to realize that multiple technical refinements in operative and post-operative care have led to outstanding results,” Dr. Subramanian says. “Patients should not avoid a necessary operation simply because of perceptions of their risk profile or because a sternotomy (surgical division of the breastbone) is necessary. We have been using that approach for more than 40 years and patients recover well, resulting in an excellent quality of life. A personalized consultation with a cardiac surgeon is necessary to define the risk and discuss ways to perform the operation safely,” he says. 

 

Dr. Subramanian completed a seven-year combined program leading to a bachelor of science degree and medical degree at Union College and Albany Medical College in New York. He joined the U.S. Air Force and completed a six-year general surgery residency at David Grant Medical Center in California. While subsequently being stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, he deployed to Liberia, Kazakhstan and served as a combat trauma surgeon in Balad, Iraq. He then completed his cardiothoracic surgical training at the Cleveland Clinic.

 

Dr. Subramanian received an Arizona Heart Institute travelling fellowship and spent two years working as a cardiac surgeon at the Heart Center Leipzig while doing a fellowship in percutaneous and minimally invasive heart valve surgery and innovations.

 

His clinical and research interests also include aortic valve-preserving operations and aortic surgery, including the use of hybrid operations for the descending thoracic aorta. He authored and coauthored about 60 publications, which include articles, abstracts and book chapters.

 

“Dr. Subramanian’s arrival substantially advances our plans to become leaders in the safe and effective use of less-invasive techniques in cardiac surgery. Based on his extensive experience in TAVR, he will work with the other members of the cardiothoracic team to help select  appropriate candidates for this technology and, more importantly, respond to unforeseen complications that might arise,” says Robert Poston, MD, professor and chief, UA Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

 

“The addition of Dr. Subramanian to the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery adds another expert in standard open-heart surgery as well as minimally invasive options, which distinguishes us from other institutions in the nation,” says Rainer W.G. Gruessner, MD, chairman, UA Department of Surgery.