Recording TV programs, and then skipping through commercials during playback, I don’t often watch live television. Today, a 30-second version of this video caught my attention:

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Yes, research can be hard to see. And, many Conservatives and most Libertarians are reluctant to fund it. Find further information about Edmonton’s Dr. Lori West HERE.

I was touched, but I am biased. In 2023, I benefited from Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), a procedure first performed by French Professor Alain Cribier in 2002.

In 1983 he was offered the position of Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cath-Lab at Charles Nicolle Hospital, University of Rouen. This new position offered Cribier full access to patients, university teaching, and research and allowed him to start considering new interventions in cardiology.

The first of many world firsts saw Cribier perform the first balloon valvuloplasty for calcific aortic stenosis in 1986. This percutaneous procedure, via a femoral vein, opened calcified valve leaflets and improved blood flow through the valve. It offered positive short-term relief, but mid-term restenosis rates were high and spurred Cribier on to find a better technique.

He settled on the idea of a percutaneous heart valve as a route to better long-term outcomes, but it would take many years for his vision to become a reality.

Alain G. Cribier: 1945-2024, Global Cardiology Science and Practice