Novel minimally invasive heart procedures with shorter recovery times, and lower risks

February is Heart Month, and we’re grateful for our skilled and compassionate Schulich Heart Program team.

When Dr. Nick Bowers tells a patient they require a heart procedure, he wants them to truly understand. His patients hold a model heart, and he explains in simple terms the problem and what will happen in the Cath Lab.

“It helps to demystify the clinical aspect, and sets patients’ minds at ease,” says Dr. Bowers, an interventional and structural cardiologist in Sunnybrook’s Schulich Heart Program.

More often than not, Dr. Bowers also shows the patient a small device which will be implanted to help their heart function. If the patient has a leaking heart valve, he’ll pass them a MitraClip, explaining he’ll guide the clip with a catheter through a vein in their leg to the heart. After that, it will be attached to the mitral valve to help it close more completely, restoring normal blood flow.

Dr. Bowers performs the full spectrum of structural and heart valve procedures, a rarity in Canada, and impressive as the devices often change on a yearly basis.

His expertise was boosted with the completion of an Advanced Structural Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at Columbia University Medical Centre in 2023. He also completed a Masters in Clinical Trials at the University of Oxford, to help better understand research in structural heart interventions. Currently he is training three international structural heart fellows at Sunnybrook as they build their skillset by performing procedures, teaching students, and participating in research initiatives.

Patients requiring transcatheter aortic valve replacement and implantation (TAVI), mitral and tricuspid transcatheter repair and replacement, Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure, and treatment and left atrial appendage occlusion are seen by Dr. Bowers. He’s also involved in complex percutaneous coronary interventions, also known as angioplasty in emergency (STEMI) and elective settings, and attends in the cardiac intensive care unit (CCU) and cardiology service.

“What makes many of these procedures exciting is that patients who may not be candidates for open heart surgery can receive novel minimally invasive procedures with shorter recovery times, and lower risks than conventional approaches,” says Dr. Bowers.

He notes that while it’s challenging to keep up with the evolving devices, it’s also exciting.

“Dr. Bowers range of expertise, and commitment to educating the next generation of clinicians, really sets him apart,” says Dr. Harindra Wijeysundera, Chief of the Schulich Heart Program. “He has contributed to Sunnybrook pioneering some of the world's most innovative ways to give the most vulnerable cardiac patients a new chance at life.”