Mick Jagger back on his feet after successful heart surgery, shares photo of himself walking in the park
After having undergone life-saving heart surgery last week, Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger posted a photograph of himself strolling in a park.
The legendary singer-songwriter recently had a heart valve replacement surgery using a method devised by a renowned French cardiologist, according to a Daily Mail report.
In the procedure, surgeons are able to swap a patient's cardiac valves without resorting to open heart surgery using a technique called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, that makes it unnecessary to crack open their chest. In turn, recovery times are significantly reduced as the bones are untouched.
Writing "a walk in the park" referring to his recent operation, Sir Mick was seen sporting a pair of black stonewashed jeans, a black shirt, and a black cap, in the new post.
It was Professor Alain Cribier who pioneered the technique in 2002 before it was employed by medics in New York. "I am not especially a fan of the Rolling Stones but I am pleased with the outcome," he said. "What is moving is to think about all the patients who have benefited from the procedure."
Following the surgery, Jagger thanked his followers for their concern, writing, "I'm feeling much better now and on the mend."
For the longest time, valve replacement has been done by opening up the chest and pausing the heart after placing the patient on a heart and lung blood machine.
According to NewHeartValve, over 200,000 such procedures are performed every year across the globe.
On the other hand, Cribier's minimally invasive technique requires only local anesthesia and has way shorter recovery times.
While at first TAVR was reserved for patients who were too weak or old to undergo open-heart procedures, its use has now been extended to those for whom the traditional approach poses an "intermediate risk".
According to Cribier, more than 400,000 patients in 65 countries have undergone the procedure since 2009, and the numbers are increasing rapidly.
Furthermore, it was concluded in a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last month that TAVR is safer and yields better results for "low-risk patients" as well.
"I must say reading the study brought tears to my eyes," said the soft-spoken cardiologist.