Elk Grove Village hospital is 1st in Illinois to offer same-day TAVR heart procedure

CHICAGO (WLS) -- As with any crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be a time of innovation.

AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village is the first hospital in Illinois to provide same-day TAVR procedures.

TAVR, or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, is a minimally invasive procedure to replace a narrowed aortic valve that fails to open properly. Typically, this procedure requires a two-to-three-day stay in the hospital, often in the ICU.

When the pandemic caused a pause on elective procedures in 2020, the clinical team led by Dr. Andrei Pop, AMITA Health's structural heart director, decided to use the time to look for a way to perform the TAVR procedure with same-day discharge.

In Dr. Pop's words, they were able to "make lemonade out of lemons."

This same-day discharge frees up much-needed ICU beds and can be safely continued the recent COVID-19 surge.

Dr. Pop told ABC7 that hospitals and health systems are reaching out to him to explore how they can do the procedure in a day themselves.