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Cardiology · UK

Percutaneous valve treatments - the heart fixed through the groin.

TAVI, mitral and tricuspid clip repair, balloon valvuloplasty and valve-in-valve - heart valves repaired or replaced on a catheter, without opening the chest. A proper Heart Team decision, a high-volume structural centre, and honest advice when open surgery is still the better answer.

See indicative pricing
A radiographer guides a patient onto the bed of an advanced 3 Tesla MRI scanner in a London imaging suite

Indicative pricing

What percutaneous valve treatment costs in the UK.

Indicative ranges across UK structural heart centres, device included.

In short

£32,000–£50,000 all-in, home in one to three days.

Procedure Indicative range
TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) £32,000–£50,000
Mitral edge-to-edge repair (e.g. MitraClip) £28,000–£42,000
Tricuspid edge-to-edge repair £30,000–£45,000
Balloon valvuloplasty (aortic or mitral) £10,000–£18,000
Valve-in-valve procedure (failed surgical valve) £35,000–£52,000
Work-up package (echo, CT, angiogram) £2,500–£5,000
Structural heart consultation only £300–£500

The device itself - £15,000–£25,000 for a transcatheter valve or clip system - dominates these prices, which is why the ranges dwarf most private procedures. Hospital, consultant team and length of stay account for the rest. Insured patients with cardiac cover are usually funded in full; self-paying patients get a single fixed quote with no surprises.

The problem

Valve disease does not wait well - and neither should you.

The failures in valve care are predictable: symptoms dismissed as ageing, waits that severe stenosis cannot afford, and decisions made without a genuine Heart Team. We address all three.

  • “Slowing down” can be a murmur

    Breathlessness on stairs, dizzy spells, fading stamina - in an older person these are written off as age when an echo would find the valve. We start with the echo.

  • Severe stenosis punishes delay

    Once symptomatic, severe aortic stenosis carries a mortality that makes months on a waiting list genuinely dangerous. Speed is not a luxury here - it is part of the treatment.

  • One route offered is no decision at all

    TAVI versus surgery versus clip is a Heart Team judgement. If nobody has weighed the options in front of you, the decision has not really been made - so we make sure it is.

When it helps

When percutaneous valve treatment is the right step.

The situations we see most, plus the one red flag that means days matter, not months.

  • Severe aortic stenosis

    The commonest indication. A calcified, narrowed aortic valve causing breathlessness, chest tightness or blackouts - untreated, prognosis is measured in a few years.

  • Symptomatic despite tablets

    Valve disease is mechanical; medication only masks it. Breathlessness that persists on optimal tablets means the valve itself needs addressing.

  • Higher surgical risk

    Age, frailty, lung disease, previous cardiac surgery - the patients open surgery serves least are precisely those transcatheter treatment was built for.

  • Severe mitral regurgitation

    A leaking mitral valve causing breathlessness and repeated heart-failure admissions - edge-to-edge repair can clip the leak without opening the chest.

  • A failing surgical valve

    Bioprosthetic valves wear out after 10–20 years. A valve-in-valve procedure places a new transcatheter valve inside the old one, avoiding redo surgery.

  • Tricuspid regurgitation

    The long-neglected valve. Severe leaks causing swelling, fatigue and liver congestion are now treatable percutaneously in specialist centres.

  • Rheumatic mitral stenosis

    For suitable narrowed mitral valves, balloon valvuloplasty remains an elegant, chest-sparing fix.

  • Red flag: blackouts or chest pain with known stenosis

    Syncope or angina in severe aortic stenosis signals a valve at the end of its compensation - urgent assessment within days, not a routine referral.

Procedure options

The right procedure depends on the valve - and on you.

What each option involves - which valve it treats, how it reaches the heart, and where open surgery still earns its place.

  • TAVI

    A new aortic valve, crimped onto a catheter, opened inside the diseased one via the groin artery. Local anaesthetic and sedation in most cases; home in days.

  • Mitral edge-to-edge repair

    A clip delivered through the leg vein grips the leaking mitral leaflets together, turning a torrential leak into a trivial one. For regurgitation, not narrowing.

  • Tricuspid edge-to-edge repair

    The same clip concept applied to the tricuspid valve - an option that barely existed five years ago, now offered in UK structural centres.

  • Balloon valvuloplasty

    A balloon stretches a narrowed valve open. Definitive for suitable rheumatic mitral stenosis; a bridge or palliation in aortic disease.

  • Valve-in-valve

    A transcatheter valve deployed inside a worn-out surgical bioprosthesis - aortic, mitral or tricuspid - sparing patients a repeat sternotomy.

  • Paravalvular leak closure

    Small plugs seal leaks around the edge of a previously implanted valve, treating breathlessness and blood-cell destruction without reoperation.

  • Transcatheter pulmonary valve

    For adults with congenital heart disease whose pulmonary conduit has failed - placed in specialist congenital centres.

  • Open surgery - still sometimes right

    Younger patients, complex multi-valve disease and some anatomies do better with conventional surgery. When the Heart Team says so, so do we.

Safety and recovery

What to expect afterwards - honestly.

These are major cardiac procedures made remarkably tolerable. The things worth understanding are stroke and pacemaker risk, the access site, and what untreated valve disease costs by comparison.

  • Usually no general anaesthetic

    Most TAVIs are done under local anaesthetic with sedation; clip procedures use a short general anaesthetic for imaging. Either way there is no sternotomy and no bypass machine.

  • Stroke - the risk patients fear most

    Around 1–3 percent for TAVI, similar for mitral procedures. Cerebral protection devices and meticulous technique keep it low, but it is never zero, and we never pretend otherwise.

  • Pacemaker after TAVI

    The new valve sits beside the heart’s wiring. Roughly 5–15 percent of TAVI patients need a permanent pacemaker, varying with device and anatomy - declared before consent, not discovered after.

  • Vascular access complications

    The groin artery does the heavy lifting. Bleeding or vessel injury occurs in a few percent, mostly managed at the time; serious vascular surgery is rare.

  • Valve leak (paravalvular regurgitation)

    A small leak around a TAVI valve is common and usually trivial; significant leaks affect a small minority and can often be treated. The discharge echo quantifies yours.

  • Procedural mortality, honestly

    For elective TAVI in experienced UK centres, 30-day mortality is around 1–2 percent - far below untreated severe aortic stenosis, which claims roughly half of symptomatic patients within two years.

  • Recovery is measured in days

    Walking the same evening, home in one to three days, normal activity within a fortnight for most. The contrast with six to twelve weeks of sternotomy recovery is the whole point.

  • Medication and durability

    Antiplatelet or anticoagulant tablets follow, tailored to the device. Transcatheter valve durability now extends past ten years in follow-up data, informing choices in younger patients.

  • Red flags after the procedure

    New breathlessness, blackouts, a swelling or bleeding groin, fever, or stroke symptoms - face, arm, speech - mean 999 or the structural team the same day, not a routine appointment.

Reading your procedure report

Your procedure report in four parts. Read the last one first.

Whichever valve was treated and whichever device was used, the report the structural team sends keeps to the same shape.

A UK consultant cardiologist reviewing a patient’s valve procedure report

A quiet reminder

Gradients, ejection fractions and device sizes read like engineering - ask your care team to explain them if anything is unclear.

Ask your care team to explain anything that is unclear.

  1. 01 Header

    Diagnosis, device and access

    The valve treated and its severity, the exact device implanted - make, model, size - and the access route used.

  2. 02 Technique

    Deployment and immediate result

    How the valve or clip was positioned, the echo and pressure measurements before and after, and any residual leak or gradient.

  3. 03 Findings

    Rhythm, vessels and complications

    Conduction changes that might herald a pacemaker need, the state of the access vessels, and anything the follow-up must watch.

  4. 04 Impression

    Medication, echo dates and surveillance

    Read this first: the antithrombotic plan, the 6–12 week echo appointment, endocarditis-prevention advice, and the annual surveillance schedule.

Recognised by major UK insurers

BupaAXA HealthVitalityAvivaWPACignaHealixBupaAXA HealthVitalityAvivaWPACignaHealixBupaAXA HealthVitalityAvivaWPACignaHealix

TAVI and clip procedures are covered by most comprehensive policies when the Heart Team recommends them - the device cost included. Given the sums involved, we always secure written pre-authorisation before booking.

Frequently asked

Everything we get asked about valve treatment.

Quick answers on TAVI, clips, age, the surgery comparison, cost and NHS pathways.

  • What are percutaneous valve treatments?

    Procedures that repair or replace a diseased heart valve through a catheter - a thin tube passed up to the heart from a small puncture in the groin - instead of open-chest surgery. The family includes TAVI for the aortic valve, edge-to-edge clip repair for the mitral and tricuspid valves, balloon valvuloplasty for narrowed valves, and valve-in-valve procedures for worn-out surgical prostheses.

  • Am I too old for TAVI?

    Almost certainly not - advanced age is closer to the reason for TAVI than a barrier to it. The procedure was designed for patients in their eighties and nineties for whom open surgery is too much, and is performed under local anaesthetic with sedation in most cases. What matters is whether treating the valve would restore quality of life, which is precisely the question the Heart Team assessment answers.

  • How does TAVI compare with open valve surgery?

    TAVI avoids the sternotomy and bypass machine, so recovery is days rather than months, and in older or higher-risk patients trial outcomes match or better surgery. Open surgery keeps advantages in younger patients - where very long-term durability data still favours surgical valves - and in complex multi-valve or coronary disease.

  • What is a MitraClip and does it work?

    A small clip, delivered through the leg vein, that pinches the leaking edges of the mitral valve together - reducing severe regurgitation to mild in most treated patients. In the right candidates it relieves breathlessness, cuts heart-failure admissions and, in selected heart-failure patients, improves survival. It suits people whose leak is severe but for whom open mitral surgery is too risky.

  • How much do percutaneous valve treatments cost privately in the UK?

    These are among the most expensive single procedures in private medicine, driven by device costs of £15,000–£25,000. In 2026, expect roughly £32,000–£50,000 all-in for TAVI, £28,000–£42,000 for mitral edge-to-edge repair, and £10,000–£18,000 for balloon valvuloplasty, plus £2,500–£5,000 of work-up imaging. Insured patients with cardiac cover are usually funded in full; we pre-authorise before anything is booked.

  • Are these procedures available on the NHS?

    Yes - TAVI and mitral edge-to-edge repair are established NHS treatments in designated structural heart centres, and for severe symptomatic disease the NHS treats urgently. Waits for elective cases vary considerably by region, and symptomatic severe aortic stenosis tolerates waiting badly, which is the usual reason patients come to us - for a rapid Heart Team assessment, and treatment within weeks either privately or by helping navigate an NHS pathway.

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