smiling nurse at an elderly patient's bedside

Compassionate and Comprehensive Heart Disease Care

Structural Heart Program

The Structural Heart Program (SHP) at Novant Health combines a dedicated team of interventional cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, cardiac imaging specialists, and electrophysiologists to provide you with holistic structural heart disease care. Our team of professionals are committed to giving you expert, compassionate care, and providing you with comprehensive evaluations to implement personalized courses of minimally invasive treatment specific to your structural heart condition. Most patients can go home the same day or next day after treatment.

What is Structural Heart Disease?

Structural heart disease refers to an abnormal condition of the heart muscle and anatomy of the heart. It may include complications in which the heart’s valves, chambers or walls have damage or flaws that alter the flow of blood throughout the heart. These conditions may develop before birth or later in life.

Female nurse with a stethoscope listens to a woman's heart

Structural Heart Conditions We Treat

Our structural heart team uses a multidisciplinary approach of innovative and technologically advanced solutions to diagnose and treat a variety of structural heart disease and conditions including:

Aortic Stenosis

Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)

Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)

Mitral Valve Regurgitation

Paravalvular Leak

Advanced Treatments for Structural Heart Disease

To treat various types of structural heart conditions such as aortic stenosis, holes in the heart and heart valve regurgitation, we offer both traditional open-heart surgery and minimally invasive procedures including:

Atrial Septal Defect & Patent Foramen Ovale Closure Devices

Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure devices are used for patients born with congenital holes in their heart. During the treatment, the physician threads a closure device through a catheter, sends it up to the heart where the device is inserted into the opening to plug it, closing the hole.

Paravalvular Leak Closures

For patients who have had a surgical valve replacement placed and have developed a leak around the device as a complication, the paravalvular leak closure device stops the leak by working as a plug to close a hole or gap that has formed next to where the valve replacement was placed.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)

Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair

Left Atrial Appendage Closure

Atrial fibrillation, also known as Afib, is the most common type of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). Having Afib can increase your risk of having a stroke. Your provider may reduce this risk by prescribing blood thinners.

For patients who have bleeding or other complications from blood-thinning medications, your doctor may recommend a procedure to occlude your left atrial appendage (LAA) to reduce your risk of Afib-related strokes. During the procedure, a device such as a WATCHMAN™ implant or Amulet™ occluder is inserted into the LAA to close it off and prevent blood from pooling and forming clots.