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A team at
Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute is the first in Florida, and the second in the Southeast U.S., to perform an aortic valve replacement on a patient using a new device, the
Lotus Edge, which was recently approved by the
FDA. Primarily designed for high-risk patients with severe "stenosis," or narrowing of the aortic valve opening, the Lotus Edge was approved in April. The Institute's team was led by
Ramon Quesada, MD, medical director of the
Structural Heart and Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Programs at Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, and interventional cardiologist
Bernardo Lopez-Sanabria, MD. Dr. Quesada served as a principal investigator in the clinical trials of the Lotus system prior to the approval. In the Institute's first "transcatheter aortic valve replacement," or TAVR, using the Lotus Edge, Drs. Quesada and Lopez-Sanabria were assisted by
Niberto Moreno, MD, emeritus chief of cardiothoracic surgery, who also served as an investigator in the trials, and
Elliott Elias, MD, a cardiologist with a focus on interventional echocardiography at the Institute. The patient,
Rafael Ponce, 80, is recovering well after the Lotus Edge was implanted to replace his diseased aortic valve. He had been diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis.
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