Oberwart clinic performs 100 heart valve implants since March

The Clinic Oberwart has performed 100 heart valve implantations since its cardiac surgery department opened in March, ORF reported. Hospital officials say the number shows the need for the new department.

The clinic has treated heart conditions using minimally invasive procedures since 2021. Since March, its cardiology and cardiac surgery departments have also been able to carry out TAVI procedures, a type of heart valve implantation, alongside major open-heart operations.

Andreas Ochsenhofer, head of the clinic’s internal medicine department, said patients awaiting treatment faced a 50 percent annual mortality rate. Some of those patients had previously faced long waits for care in Vienna and Graz, he said.

Senior physician Paul Vock said criticism that Oberwart’s case numbers were too low to keep doctors practised was contradicted by the clinic’s experience. He said cardiac surgeons had already performed bypass and valve operations, and that their support was required for cardiologists to carry out valve implants using non-surgical methods.

Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil said the clinic’s actual figures showed that the planned development was working. The state plans to continue building a modern heart centre in Oberwart. A previous approval for the cardiac surgery department was overturned by the regional administrative court; the state can now use actual patient numbers in a new decision.