The Key Elements That are Fundamental for Initiating a Structural Heart Program

Over the past 10–15 years, the structural heart arena has been rapidly growing and evolving with multiple interventions for valvular heart disease, congenital heart defects, and pulmonary circulatory disorders. The growth and progression of the realm of structural heart diseases is directly related to the continually increasing aging populations that require acceptable, complex treatment modalities. This has been the driving force for the emergence of the subspecialty of structural heart. The invention of the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure has quickly become a widely accepted treatment technique worldwide and is now becoming the standard of care for aortic stenosis.