Life-saving heart procedure coming soon to N.L.

Health Minister Steve Kent says after years of campaigning to bring a life-saving heart procedure to the province, sick patients will no longer have to travel to New Brunswick or Ontario to have it.

Kent announced Wednesday that doctors have begun training in trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), a minimally invasive procedure that replaces the aorticvalve.

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TAVI is offered as an alternative when open-heart surgery is deemed too risky.

"Cardiac disease is the number one killer of Newfoundlanders andLabradoriansand our numbers are worse than anywhere else in Canada," Kent said.

Last July, Dr. Neil Pearce, who heads the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Eastern Health, told CBC News that some patients aren't able to travel elsewhere to have the procedure.

Kent said about 600 open-heart surgeries are performed annually in the province. Roughly100 of thoseare performed on the aortic valve.

"Some of the benefits of this move include improved outcomes for patient survival and [improved] quality of life," he said.

"Lower rates of major bleeding, shorter patient stays in the intensive care unit, shorter hospitalization which will take pressure off the system and a reduction in hospital re-admission as well."

"We're going to be able to offer more procedures for less money."

Kent added that cardiologists and cardiac surgeons will be more inclined to stay in the province if they aren't limited in their scope of practice.

He said that doctors will be trained in the procedurewithin months.

The health minister estimates about 20 people will benefit from the procedure each year.