The history of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI)

Valve replacement and repair have been amongst the fastest growing areas in interventional cardiology. This sections features the key figures in TAVI as well as looking at the first Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), aortic stenosis prevalence and balloon aortic valvuloplasty and more...

The first transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure in the world was performed on 16 April 2002, by the Interventional Cardiologists Alain Cribier and team at the Charles Nicolle University Hospital in Rouen, France. He used a Prosthetic valve thrombosis (PVT) percutaneous heart valve.

The odyssey of TAVI

TAVI: a fascinating 20-year-long odyssey with a happy ending.

This new "disruptive" technology is among the most important medical breakthroughs to date. TAVI emerged in 2002 to profoundly alter the landscape of cardiovascular medicine.

Pioneers in TAVI

Meet some of the first generation of pioneers that have inspired many thousands of interventionalists and learn more about the many obstacles they were obliged to along their journey.

Alain Cribier

In 2002, Alain Cribier revolutionised the field by introducing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) as a complementary technique to surgery. Find out more about his early life and studies.

First TAVI case

On April 16, 2002, at the Charles Nicolle University Hospital in Rouen, France, the Interventional Cardiologist, Professor Alain Cribier performed the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure in the world. He used a PVT percutaneous heart valve.

Prevalence of aortic stenosis

The transformation in the field of interventional cardiology is unprecedented. Today, interventional cardiology encompasses an ever-growing list of diagnostic and therapeutic percutaneous procedures performed in the cathlab.