AVR full form in medical term is Aortic Valve Replacement surgery. This surgery is performed when the heart valve connected to the aorta is damaged or not functioning properly. Aorta is the main artery that carries out blood and delivers it to all the organs in the human body. And when the aortic valve is not functioning properly because it’s been damaged during its lifetime, it is called acquired aortic valve disease. A faulty aortic valve can cause heart muscles to be enlarged and become uneven and weak. And to save the patient from having cardiac arrest or heart attack in this condition, the AVR or Aortic Valve Replacement Surgery is performed.
This surgery is done under general anesthesia, so the patient will be completely unconscious during the surgery. Your heart will be exposed during the surgery after the incision in the chest area, and then the surgeons will connect you to the heart-lung machine to keep your breath and blood flow steady. When the heart is stopped and blood flow is re-routed by the heart-lung machine, the surgeons will open the aorta and remove the aortic valve to replace it with an artificial valve.