14/01/2026
【NTUH Cardiovascular Center Optimizes TAVR Workflow
Advancing a Minimalist Care Model to Enhance Patient Care Quality and Healthcare Efficiency】
https://www.ntuh.gov.tw/ntuh/News.action?l=en_US&q_type=-1&q_itemCode=18219
In response to the growing prevalence of valvular heart disease in an aging society, the Cardiovascular Center of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) has continued to refine its treatment strategies for valvular heart conditions. In recent years, NTUH has successfully implemented and optimized an internationally aligned Minimalist Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (Minimalist TAVR) care pathway. While maintaining patient safety as the highest priority, this approach allows selected patients to avoid general anesthesia, eliminates the routine need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and enables discharge as early as the day following the procedure, demonstrating tangible clinical benefits.
Compared with Europe and North America, most hospitals in Asia still follow conventional TAVR workflows, which typically involve preoperative hospitalization for evaluation, general anesthesia, and routine postoperative ICU admission, resulting in hospital stays ranging from five to ten days or longer. Even in neighboring advanced medical centers such as those in South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, the adoption of minimalist strategies remains limited. Through close collaboration with the Departments of Anesthesiology and Medical Imaging, the NTUH Cardiovascular Center TAVR team has successfully streamlined procedural workflows and established a treatment model centered on patient comfort and safety. Since the end of 2024, further optimization has been extended to postoperative care, allowing selected patients to forgo ICU admission, facilitating earlier mobilization, and enabling discharge the following day under stable conditions. Over one year of implementation, 30 patients (33%) were able to transition directly to general wards after the procedure, and 17 patients (19%) were discharged the next day, with favorable recovery outcomes and significantly improved patient satisfaction. NTUH’s experience demonstrates that, in appropriately selected patients, the minimalist care model not only maintains clinical safety but also substantially enhances comfort and overall care experience.
The Minimalist TAVR care model at NTUH contributes to reduced length of hospitalization and ICU utilization, lowers the risk of hospital-acquired infections and complications associated with prolonged bed rest, and improves bed turnover efficiency. This approach yields positive benefits for hospital operations, the national health insurance system, and patient care alike, exemplifying a practical balance between quality and efficiency. Building on these clinical achievements, NTUH plans to further develop a comprehensive one-stop Heart Team treatment platform and gradually expand advanced therapies to other valvular heart diseases, including aortic regurgitation and mitral and tricuspid valve disorders. In recognition of NTUH’s demonstrated outcomes in TAVR workflow optimization and clinical care, the hospital recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the global medical device company Edwards Lifesciences to establish an Asia-Pacific educational demonstration center. This collaboration aims to support the training of additional Minimalist TAVR teams across the region, contribute to the development of localized Asian treatment guidelines, and strengthen regional education in valvular heart disease care.
Amid limited healthcare resources, the NTUH Cardiovascular Center TAVR team has established a model that achieves both cost containment and improved inpatient care quality. Looking ahead, through the development of an integrated platform for the treatment and education of valvular heart disease, NTUH will continue to serve patients locally while introducing advanced cardiovascular therapies, further enhancing Taiwan’s visibility and impact within the international medical community.
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