Professor Alain Cribier, known internationally for having developed a revolutionary aortic valve replacement technique in 2002, died on Friday at the age of 79, we learned on Sunday February 18.
Former head of the cardiology department of the Rouen University Hospital and honorary member of the National Academy of Medicine, Professor Cribier was “known for having developed the technique of percutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVI)”, recalled the University Hospital. in a press release on Saturday, announcing his death.
According to the same press release, the doctor was “at the origin of three world firsts”, such as the first aortic dilation with a balloon catheter in 1985 and “valvuloplasty with a metal dilator” in 1992. But he is best known for “ the first implantation of an aortic valve percutaneously”, a “revolutionary alternative treatment to major thoracic surgery, until now the only response to patients suffering from severe aortic stenosis”.
This world first, carried out in 2002 in Rouen, was the origin of a major upheaval in the treatment of aortic stenosis, a common condition in people aged over 65. Professor Cribier, who received the prestigious prize from the American College of Cardiology, trained doctors in TAVI around the world.