Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI)

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), also known as TAVR, is a minimally invasive procedure that replaces a narrowed or diseased aortic valve without open-heart surgery. The new valve is delivered via a catheter — usually through a small incision in the groin — and implanted inside the existing valve while the heart continues to beat.

Professor Antony Walton established Australia's TAVI programme in 2008 and has since performed more than 1,000 transcatheter heart valve procedures. He is Head of the Structural Heart Programme at Alfred Health, Director of Structural Heart Intervention at Epworth HealthCare, and Chief Investigator of the Alfred–Cabrini–Epworth (ACE) TAVI Registry.

TAVI was developed for patients considered too high-risk for open-heart surgery. Two decades of evidence have since extended it to intermediate- and low-risk patients as well, with outcomes now considered comparable to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for many patients, along with a shorter hospital stay and faster recovery.

Suitability depends on valve anatomy, overall health, frailty, and coronary anatomy, assessed by a multidisciplinary Heart Team. See our detailed guide to patient selection criteria.

• Pre-procedure workup: CT angiography, echocardiography, and a Heart Team assessment to plan valve size and delivery approach.
• The procedure itself: typically performed via the femoral artery under conscious sedation or general anaesthesia, taking around 1–2 hours.
• Recovery: many patients mobilise within a day and go home within 1–3 days. See our recovery timeline guide.

MBBS (University of Melbourne), FRACP, Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center. Professor of Medicine at Monash University, Deputy Director of Cardiology and Head of the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratories at Alfred Health, and a regular invited faculty member at TCT (USA) and EuroPCR (Paris). Read Prof Walton's full profile →