Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    A SHENZHEN hospital signed a cooperation deal with a New York hospital Saturday, with the latter agreeing to bring its novel heart surgery techniques to benefit Shenzhen residents.

    As part of the city’s Three Renowned Project, which encourages the introduction of established doctors, hospitals and medical schools to help improve local medical care, the Shenzhen People’s Hospital’s cardiology department and New York-Presbyterian Hospital will have long-term cooperation in research on heart disease treatment.

    Once the related medical device is approved for use in China later this year, the Shenzhen hospital, with the help of the U.S. hospital, will perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to provide an alternative therapy for patients with severe aortic stenosis who previously refused surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), said Dong Shaohong, director of the Shenzhen hospital’s cardiology department.

    Approved in the United States in late 2011, TAVR is a minimally invasive approach to implant an artificial heart valve, according to Professor Tracey L. Shannon from the hospital. This approach is for patients who are too high-risk for traditional aortic valve surgery.

    New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where former U.S President Bill Clinton received heart surgery in 2004, is a university hospital in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools: Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College. The hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the United States, is ranked seventh in the United States and first in the New York City metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report as of July 2015. The hospital, with roughly 2,400 beds in total, is among the largest hospitals and largest private employers in New York City and one of the world’s busiest.