Tampa hospital performs 100th transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement

St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida, performed its 100th non-invasive heart surgery Feb. 6 in which it gave a patient a transcatheter pulmonary valve.

The patient was Caleb Hancock, a 13-year-old boy, who was born with a Tetralogy of Fallot, a condition made up of four heart defects. He underwent open-heart surgery at the age of 2 and was preparing for another one this year when his doctors realized his pulmonary valve needed to be replaced.

But instead of undergoing another invasive heart surgery, Hancock was able to receive a transcatheter procedure.

The procedure was performed by Jeremy Ringewalk, MD, a pediatric interventional cardiologist and the medical director of the pediatric and adult congenital cardiac catheterization lab at St. Joseph’s.

"It was a great day for the whole team," Ringewald said. "The crew did an outstanding job."

The team at St. Joseph’s has implanted the most transcatheter pulmonary valves in Florida since the program was founded six years ago.

"We are amazed at how well Caleb is doing," said Caleb’s mother Cindy Hancock in a statement. “His recovering will be significantly shorter than what it would have been with open-heart surgery," Cindy said.