Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/03/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) A Taipei hospital on Tuesday announced that one of its patients is the longest-living person to have received pioneering heart surgery, the 107-year-old man underwent an operation more than five years ago to replace an aortic valve.

According to Cheng Hsin General Hospital, its cardiac surgery team performed Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) surgery on the patient surnamed Chen (陳) when he was 102.

The previous record for the oldest living person to have undergone TAVI surgery was a man who had the operation at 99, but passed away before 107, the hospital said.

Wei Jeng (魏崢), superintendent of Cheng Hsin General Hospital, said at a press event that the aortic valve usually opens when blood is pumped from the heart to the rest of the body.
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