Richmond man first in North America to have emergency heart procedure

Deathly ill patient's procedure lasted 19 minutes

Max Morton (left) had an emergency heart valve replacement performed upon him. (Photo Credit: Vancouver Costal Health)

79-year-old Max Morton was the first patient in North America to undergo a revolutionary new procedure. After suffering from massive failure of his aortic valve March 11, a minimally invasive heart was performed upon him.

Traditionally, doctors would perform emergency open-heart surgery on Morton in order to replace the failing valve. But Dr. David Wood, an interventional and structural cardiologist at Vancouver General and St. Paul's Hospitals knew they didn't have enough time to perform emergency open-heart surgery. His risk of dying from said procedure was "30 per cent… if not higher."

The decision to go with the minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement was chosen, and it paid off. Morton survived as the first unstable critically ill patient in North America to receive said treatment.

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