FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A Fremont man was the 100th patient to receive an artificial heart valve at a Fort Wayne hospital.

Roland Swan calls the procedure, done at Parkview Heart Institute, a “miracle.”

“I came in on Monday and went home on Wednesday,” he said.

The artificial valve treatment is used to allow heart disease patients to eliminate the need for a full heart bypass surgery, and has a shorter recovery time due to its minimally invasive nature.

“The doctors… I can’t describe how I feel about them,” Swan adds. “They worked a miracle.”

Swan, who describes his quality of life before the surgery as “horrible,” now says he feels great.

The procedure’s full name is “transcatheter aortic valve replacement” (TAVR). Since the introduction of TAVR at PHI, physicians have expanded the number of patients who are eligible for the procedure from only those at high risk to include those at intermediate risk.

“TAVR is an exceptional treatment alternative to surgical valve replacement for select patients with severe aortic stenosis or those at an intermediate risk,” said Roy Robertson, MD, president, Parkview Heart Institute, and interventional cardiologist, Parkview Physicians Group – Cardiology. Dr. Robertson completed Swan’s valve replacement, along with Douglas Gray, MD, Parkview Physicians Group – Cardiovascular Surgery.