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Just two months after undergoing heart surgery at BWH in January, Esther Elkin hopped a plane to Israel for her granddaughter's wedding in March. And the spry and spirited Elkin of Providence is eagerly anticipating the next big family event: her 95th birthday on June 3.
“She really made a magnificent recovery,” said her daughter, Abby, adding that Esther was hospitalized for less than a week following the surgery.
In January, Elkin became the oldest BWH patient to undergo a minimally invasive aortic valve replacement, a procedure BWH cardiac surgeons have been performing for only the last decade. Prior to 1996, such a surgery would have required a 30-cm incision, as opposed to the 8 cm incision made by Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, Chief of Cardiac Surgery. BWH surgeons have performed approximately 800 such operations in the last decade.
“The whole concept is to minimize the trauma to the patient, and it's working,” Cohn said. “It's a very effective procedure for elderly patients.”
Cohn estimated the average age of patients who undergo an aortic valve replacement, as Elkin did, is about 65 years old. Fifty years old is the average age for mitral valve procedures, another minimally invasive operation performed routinely on Francis Street. The minimally invasive valve surgery series currently totals approximately 1,400 patients.
“For an elderly patient who is in otherwise good health, the risk is very low,” he said.
Elkin certainly fits that description. Aside from aortic valve disease, she is a very healthy woman for 94 years old, he said.
“My mother is in great health and she's got a great attitude, and she'd certainly recommend Dr. Cohn and this procedure to anyone who asked,” her daughter Abby said. “It was great to have her at my daughter's wedding, and everyone was thrilled to see her.”