New England Heart & Vascular Institute

This is a sponsored supplement, which first appeared in Business NH Magazine's Health Care Handbook in the April 2021 issue.

How far would you go to get the best care?  For Jackie Sibulkin, the answer is 2,200 miles from Texas to Manchester, NH.

Sibulkin, 82, needed a new aortic heart valve but open-heart surgery was a risky prospect for him. “I was talking with some of my cousins who live up in New Hampshire and they raved about Dr. Gilani.  I knew I had to see him.”

Dr. Fahad Gilani, one of the talented interventional cardiologists at Catholic Medical Center’s New England Heart & Vascular Institute (NEHVI), performed a procedure called the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement—or TAVR. The procedure is a minimally-invasive alternative to traditional open-heart valve replacement surgery that is performed using a small catheter.  The new valve is attached to the catheter and enters the heart from an artery.  Once in place, the new valve pushes away the old one and attaches to the leaflets of the diseased valve to keep it in place. The team at NEHVI is among the most experienced in New England at performing TAVRs.  In fact, CMC was the first community hospital in the state to offer TAVR and has done more than 1,000 TAVR procedures since 2013.  

By the time Sibulkin arrived in New Hampshire, explains Dr. Gilani, “he was admitted in bad shape with heart failure.  We expedited things and did a TAVR on him.  He did extremely well.”  

Sibulkin is feeling great and has no regrets.  “I drove 2,200 miles and I would do it all over again—10 times if I had to.  Before, I didn’t know if I would survive it but I was assured they would do their very best, and because they are the best, I agreed to do it.  I’m so very glad I did. I feel better than I have in years!”