TAVI Recovery Timeline: Early Walking, the Cardiac Unit Stay and the First Two Weeks Home

The night before the procedure, a retired schoolteacher in her eighties asked her nurse a question that had nothing to do with valves or catheters. She wanted to know whether she would be able to walk to the bathroom on her own the next day. It is a small question, and it is exactly the right one. For most people facing a transcatheter aortic valve implantation, the fear is less about the hour in the catheter lab and more about what the days afterward will feel like.

Understanding the tavi recovery timeline changes that fear into a plan. TAVI, also called TAVR, is a procedure in which a new aortic valve is delivered through a thin tube, usually via an artery in the groin, and opened inside the old narrowed valve without opening the chest. The recovery pattern that follows is different from open surgery: earlier walking, a shorter stay, and a first fortnight at home that rewards steadiness rather than heroics.

This explainer walks through what typically happens, hour by hour at first and then week by week, using guideline-level evidence rather than reassurance. Where the evidence is uncertain, it says so.

What is TAVI and how does it actually work?

Aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the valve between the heart’s main pumping chamber and the aorta, the body’s largest artery. Over years, calcium stiffens the valve leaflets until the heart has to push against a door that only half opens. Breathlessness on stairs, chest tightness and dizzy spells are the usual results, and once symptoms appear the condition tends to progress, according to Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus.

TAVI treats the problem from the inside. A catheter, a thin flexible tube, is threaded through the femoral artery in the groin (or occasionally another vessel) and guided to the heart under X-ray and ultrasound imaging. A folded replacement valve, built from animal tissue mounted on a metal frame, is positioned within the diseased valve and expanded, either by a balloon or by a self-expanding frame. The old leaflets are pressed aside and the new valve starts working the moment it opens.

Nothing about the chest wall is cut. That single fact explains most of the recovery differences you will read about here. Open surgical valve replacement requires the breastbone to be divided and the heart to be stopped on a bypass machine; the NHS describes a typical recovery of two to three months for that operation. TAVI leaves a puncture in the groin instead of a sternotomy, so the body has far less structural healing to do.

The procedure itself usually takes one to two hours, per Cleveland Clinic, and is increasingly performed under conscious sedation (medication that makes you drowsy and relaxed while you keep breathing on your own) rather than general anaesthesia. Some people do need a general anaesthetic, depending on their anatomy and health, and that choice affects how quickly they feel alert afterward. Your team decides this in advance and explains why.

TAVI recovery timeline at a glance

Every recovery is individual, and the table below is a description of common patterns drawn from patient guidance published by Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins, not a schedule anyone is held to. Age, frailty, kidney function, lung disease and the access route all shift the picture. Treat it as a map, and let your team tell you where you are on it.

Stage	What commonly happens	What you are usually asked to do
Procedure day	Sedation wears off; lying flat for a few hours while the groin puncture seals; continuous heart monitoring	Keep the leg straight as instructed; report chest pain or a warm, spreading feeling at the groin
Day 1	Sit up, stand, walk short distances with a nurse or physiotherapist; echocardiogram to check the new valve	Walk several short spells; practise deep breathing
Days 1–3 (discharge)	Rhythm stable, site dry, walking safely; home with written instructions	Arrange a companion for the first nights
First 72 hours home	Bruising develops; tiredness peaks; appetite may be low	Short walks, fluids, gentle routine
Week 1	Energy returns unevenly; groin tenderness eases	Increase walking gradually; no lifting or straining
Week 2	Many people notice easier breathing than before the procedure	Keep the walking habit; ask about driving and rehabilitation
Around 30 days	Follow-up visit and echocardiogram	Bring medication and symptom notes

The pattern that matters most is direction, not speed. A person who is a little more active each day, even if the steps are small, is recovering as intended. A person who was improving and then slides backwards over two or three days needs a conversation with the team, and the later section on red flags explains which signs should never wait.

Why walking after TAVI is the first step in recovery

If you ask what the first step in recovery is, the honest answer is literal: it is a step. Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins both describe people being helped out of bed within hours of a transfemoral TAVI, once the puncture site has sealed and the sedation has cleared. Early mobilisation is not a bonus for the fit; it is standard care because of what happens to a body that lies still.

Within a day or two of bed rest, blood pools in the leg veins and the risk of a clot forming rises. Lungs that are not fully inflated by upright breathing collect secretions, which is one route to pneumonia. Muscle strength in older adults declines quickly with inactivity, and the confusion known as delirium is more common in people kept immobile in unfamiliar rooms. Walking the corridor addresses all four at once.

The first walk is short and supervised. A nurse or physiotherapist checks your blood pressure lying and standing, because the medicines used during the procedure and a night of reduced intake can make the first minutes upright feel light-headed. You are usually asked to sit, dangle your legs, stand, then walk a few metres and return. That loop is repeated through the day, lengthening each time.

Deep breathing sits alongside walking. Filling the lungs slowly to the bottom several times an hour reopens the small air sacs that collapse when a person is drowsy or lying down. Some units give a simple device to breathe through; others simply coach the technique. Neither replaces the walk.

People are often surprised by how normal the leg feels. A well-sealed femoral puncture typically allows walking without pain beyond a pulling sensation. Sharp pain, a rapidly enlarging lump or a hot feeling in the groin are different, and are covered in the red-flag section. The point of early walking after TAVI is confidence as much as physiology: the body learns, on day one, that it is allowed to move.

What happens during the cardiac unit stay

After the procedure you move to a monitored bed, often a cardiac care or step-down unit, where a small set of leads on your chest feeds your heart rhythm continuously to a screen at the nurses’ station. This is called telemetry, and it is the reason the stay exists. The new valve sits close to the heart’s electrical wiring, and the first day or two is when any disturbance is most likely to show itself.

The other job of the stay is the groin. For the first few hours you lie relatively flat with the leg kept straight, because the artery has been closed with a small plug or stitch that needs time to hold. Nurses check the pulses in your foot, the colour and warmth of the skin, and the site itself at regular intervals. A modest bruise is expected; a swelling that grows between checks is not, and staff respond quickly to it.

Sometime on the first day an echocardiogram, an ultrasound scan of the heart, confirms the valve is seated and opening well and looks for leakage around the frame. Blood tests check kidney function, because the contrast dye used for imaging is filtered by the kidneys and some people, especially those with existing kidney disease, need extra fluids and observation.

Mayo Clinic describes a hospital stay of a few days as typical, and Cleveland Clinic notes that many people go home within one or two days when the procedure is straightforward. Discharge usually depends on three things being true together: a stable heart rhythm without new conduction problems, a dry and settled access site, and the ability to walk safely to the toilet and back. Age alone does not decide it.

Before you leave, someone should sit down with you and a companion and go through medicines, wound care, activity limits, follow-up dates and the exact signs that mean you should call. Ask for this in writing. Tired brains on discharge day retain very little.

Who is TAVI usually for, and who is usually asked to wait

TAVI was first developed for people with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who were judged too frail or too high-risk for open-heart surgery. Over time, trials have extended its use to people at intermediate and lower surgical risk, and current guidelines from cardiology societies describe it as one of two standard options, alongside surgical replacement, with the choice made by a multidisciplinary heart team. The American Heart Association summarises this shared decision approach on its valve treatment pages.

The factors that steer the choice are practical. Older age, previous chest surgery, a fragile aorta, severe lung disease or frailty tend to favour a catheter approach. Younger age, a valve with only two leaflets rather than three, coexisting coronary disease that needs bypass grafts, or an anatomy that does not suit the available valve sizes tend to favour surgery. Durability matters too: surgical tissue valves have decades of follow-up data, while the longest TAVI data sets are shorter, so a person in their sixties weighs this differently from a person in their eighties.

Some people are asked to wait rather than proceed. Aortic stenosis that is severe on imaging but causing no symptoms is often watched with regular echocardiograms, because the trigger for intervention in most guidelines is symptoms or evidence that the heart muscle is beginning to struggle. Active infection anywhere in the body postpones any valve procedure, since a new valve is a surface that bacteria can colonise. Very poor kidney function may need a plan for contrast dye first.

A dental check is a common pre-procedure step. Infected teeth are a source of bacteria that can reach the bloodstream, and treating them beforehand lowers the risk of the new valve becoming infected, a condition called endocarditis.

None of these are absolute rules, and they are not a checklist to score yourself against. They are the kinds of considerations your heart team weighs, and the decision to proceed, delay or choose surgery always sits with them and with you.

The first 72 hours at home: what the first three days usually look like

The strange thing about the first days home is that you may feel worse than you did on the ward. The adrenaline of the hospital fades, the bruising at the groin reaches its full colour, and the accumulated tiredness of a procedure, broken sleep and a new routine lands all at once. This dip is common and does not mean something has gone wrong, though the red flags later in this article still apply.

The groin deserves daily attention. A bruise the size of a hand, spreading down the thigh and turning yellow-green over a week, is within the normal range described by Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins patient guidance. A firm lump beneath the puncture that stays the same size is usually a small collection of clotted blood, called a haematoma, and typically softens over weeks. What you are watching for is change: a lump that enlarges, skin that becomes hot or red, fluid or pus, or a pulsating swelling. Keep the site clean and dry, shower rather than bathe if your team allows it, and avoid creams unless told otherwise.

Walking continues at home from the first day. Several short walks inside the house or to the end of the street, spaced through the day, beat one long effort. Stairs are usually permitted taken slowly. What is not permitted, for roughly one to two weeks per the patient guidance above, is lifting anything heavy, pushing, pulling or straining, because these raise pressure in the groin artery before the seal has fully matured.

Appetite is often low and thirst is easily overlooked. Drinking regularly matters for the kidneys, which are still clearing contrast dye, unless your team has set a fluid limit because of heart failure. Bowel habits change with reduced activity and some pain medicines; straining on the toilet is one of the strains to avoid, so mention constipation early.

A companion for the first two or three nights is worth arranging. Not because collapse is likely, but because a second set of eyes on a bruise or a breathless moment is calming for everyone.

Weeks one and two: energy, breathlessness and the art of pacing

Somewhere in the second week, many people notice something they had stopped expecting: the stairs feel easier than they did before the procedure. A valve that was letting through a fraction of the normal blood flow has been replaced by one that opens fully, and the heart no longer has to fight for every beat. Mayo Clinic describes relief of symptoms such as breathlessness and chest pain as the aim of the procedure, and for many people the difference is noticeable within days. It is not universal, and it is not a promise; a heart that has been weakened over years may take longer to respond.

Energy does not return in a straight line. A good morning is often followed by a flat afternoon. The most useful habit in these two weeks is pacing: doing a little less than you feel capable of, then repeating it the next day. People who overreach on a good day tend to lose the following two.

Walking should lengthen gradually. A reasonable rhythm is to add a few minutes every couple of days, staying on flat ground at first and slowing if you cannot speak a full sentence comfortably. Breathlessness that comes on with effort and settles within a couple of minutes of rest is expected. Breathlessness at rest, or breathlessness that wakes you, is not, and belongs in the red-flag list.

Driving is a common question and the answer varies by country and by team. Many programmes ask people to wait until they can perform an emergency stop without groin pain and until any rhythm concerns are settled. Ask your team for the specific instruction that applies to you rather than a general figure.

Cardiac rehabilitation, a supervised programme of exercise, education and support, is offered to many people after valve procedures. The NHS describes it as a standard part of recovery after heart procedures. If nobody has mentioned it by the second week, ask.

Medicines after TAVI: what they do, in plain language

A new valve is a foreign surface inside a bloodstream that is designed to clot when it meets anything unfamiliar. Most of the medicines started or continued after TAVI exist to manage that fact, and understanding their mechanism makes the routine less mysterious. Nothing here is a recommendation; your prescribing clinician decides what you take, for how long, and when anything changes.

Antiplatelet medicines, of which low-strength aspirin is the best-known generic, reduce the stickiness of platelets, the small blood fragments that clump to form the first layer of a clot. Guidelines from cardiology societies describe antiplatelet therapy as the usual approach after TAVI for people who do not need a stronger blood thinner for another reason. Some people are given a second antiplatelet for a limited period; the evidence on whether one or two is better has shifted over recent years, and your team’s choice reflects your bleeding risk as much as your clot risk.

Anticoagulants, the stronger blood thinners, interfere with the clotting proteins rather than the platelets. They are usually reserved for people who already need them, most commonly because of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm that raises stroke risk. Combining an anticoagulant with antiplatelets raises bleeding risk, so people on both are watched closely and the plan is often simplified over time.

Other medicines you were taking for blood pressure, cholesterol or heart failure usually continue, sometimes adjusted, because a new valve does not undo years of vascular disease.

Endocarditis prevention is one more piece. The American Heart Association advises that people with prosthetic heart valves receive antibiotics before certain dental procedures, because bacteria from the mouth can settle on the valve. Tell every dentist you see that you have a replacement valve.

Bring an up-to-date list of everything you take to every appointment, including supplements. Some herbal products affect bleeding, and your team can only account for what they know about.

Common challenges in recovery: fatigue, sleep, mood and appetite

Ask people what surprised them about recovery and few mention the groin. They mention tiredness that arrives without warning, nights that fragment into two-hour stretches, a temper that frays, and food that tastes of nothing. These are the common challenges in recovery, and they are worth naming so they are not mistaken for failure.

Fatigue after any hospital procedure has several sources at once: the sedation or anaesthetic, disrupted sleep on a monitored ward, the body’s inflammatory response to the intervention, reduced eating, and the simple deconditioning that comes from days of low activity. In someone whose heart has been working against a narrowed valve for years, the muscles may also be out of practice. The remedy is the walking programme already described, paired with short daytime rests rather than long naps.

Sleep often settles once the groin allows lying on either side and the pattern of night-time checks fades from memory. A consistent bedtime, daylight exposure in the morning and avoiding caffeine after midday are the low-risk levers. Persistent insomnia beyond a couple of weeks is worth raising, because untreated poor sleep slows everything else.

Low mood is common after cardiac procedures and is more than a matter of attitude. The NHS and Johns Hopkins both note that anxiety and depression frequently follow heart events and procedures, and that they respond to support. A sense of flatness in the first fortnight often lifts on its own; persistent hopelessness, loss of interest in things you normally enjoy, or tearfulness that does not pass should be mentioned to your team.

Appetite tends to return with activity. Small, frequent meals with protein help muscles rebuild. If you have heart failure and a fluid or salt limit, keep to it and ask a dietitian for help making it workable.

Confusion deserves a separate note. New muddled thinking, particularly in older adults, can signal infection, medication effects or, rarely, a small stroke, and should be reported the same day.

Heart rhythm, pacemakers and why your pulse gets watched

The aortic valve sits within a few millimetres of the bundle of specialised fibres that carries electrical signals from the heart’s upper chambers to its lower ones. When a new valve frame expands against that tissue, it can bruise or compress the wiring. The result is heart block, a slowing or interruption of the signal, which can leave the heart beating too slowly to meet the body’s needs.

This is why the cardiac unit stay is built around monitoring rather than wound care. Most conduction disturbances appear within the first day or two, and MedlinePlus and Mayo Clinic both list the need for a permanent pacemaker among the recognised risks of TAVI. A pacemaker is a small device placed under the skin below the collarbone, with a wire into the heart, that senses when the rhythm falls too low and fills the gap. For people who need one, it is usually implanted before discharge and adds a day or so to the stay.

The likelihood varies with the type of valve, its position and the person’s pre-existing electrical pattern, and your team will have discussed your individual risk before the procedure. Some people go home with a wearable monitor or are asked to check their own pulse morning and evening, because a minority of conduction problems appear after discharge.

Atrial fibrillation, the irregular and often fast rhythm mentioned earlier, is the other rhythm concern. It can be triggered by the stress of any cardiac procedure and may be new or a return of an old problem. It typically feels like fluttering, pounding or an unaccountable breathlessness, and it matters because it raises stroke risk and may change which blood thinner you need.

Learning to feel your pulse at the wrist is a practical skill for the first weeks. A regular rhythm somewhere in the range your team has told you to expect is reassuring. A rate that is persistently very slow, very fast or chaotic, or any faint or blackout, is a reason to call without waiting.

How long does TAVI recovery take overall? Stages beyond two weeks

People searching for how long TAVI recovery takes usually want a single number, and the honest answer has two parts. Physical recovery from the procedure itself, meaning a healed groin, restored energy and a return to normal daily activities, is described by Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins as taking around a few weeks for most people, far shorter than the two to three months the NHS gives for open surgical replacement. Recovery of the heart and of fitness, meaning the muscle remodelling and the rebuilt stamina, unfolds over months.

The stages of recovery beyond the fortnight covered so far look roughly like this. Weeks three to six are when most activity restrictions lift, when cardiac rehabilitation usually begins if it has been offered, and when the follow-up echocardiogram at about a month confirms the valve is functioning as intended. Many people return to desk work in this window; those with physical jobs are usually asked to wait longer and to discuss the specifics.

Months two to three are about fitness. Walking distances lengthen, hills and stairs stop being events, and the heart that was thickened by years of pushing against a narrow valve begins, in many cases, to remodel toward a more normal shape. This is a gradual biological process and cannot be hurried by effort.

Beyond that, life after TAVI settles into a rhythm of periodic surveillance. Guidelines recommend an echocardiogram at around one year and then at intervals decided by your team, because tissue valves wear over time and early signs of deterioration are visible on imaging long before they cause symptoms. The lifelong habits are unglamorous and effective: the blood-thinning plan your team set, dental care with antibiotic cover where advised, blood pressure control, not smoking, and staying active.

Nobody can promise how any individual will feel at three months. What the evidence supports is that recovery of function is the expected direction, and that the pace is set by age, frailty and other conditions as much as by the valve.

What people often get wrong about the TAVI recovery timeline

The first myth is that because there is no chest wound, there is nothing to recover from. A puncture in the femoral artery, contrast dye through the kidneys, sedation or anaesthesia, hours of monitoring and a device pressing against the heart’s wiring all leave a footprint. The recovery is shorter than surgery, not absent. People who treat the fortnight after TAVI as ordinary time tend to be the ones who overreach and then stall.

The second is the opposite error: that an older heart needs weeks of rest. The evidence runs the other way. Bed rest deconditions older adults quickly, raises clot and pneumonia risk, and worsens confusion. Supervised early walking is the standard of care precisely because it is safer than stillness.

Third, many people expect breathlessness to vanish the day the valve opens. For some it does improve within days, and that is a genuine and common experience. For others, especially those whose heart muscle has been weakened over years or who have lung disease as well, the improvement is gradual and partial. Neither pattern means the procedure has failed, and only follow-up imaging and your team can say how the valve is performing.

Fourth, the bruise. A large, spreading, multicoloured thigh alarms almost everyone and is, in most cases, exactly what patient guidance from Cleveland Clinic describes as expected. The features that matter are growth, heat, pulsation and pain, not colour or size on its own.

Fifth, that the new valve lasts forever. Tissue valves, whether placed by catheter or surgery, wear over time, which is why lifelong surveillance echocardiograms are part of the plan and why the choice between TAVI and surgery is weighed differently at different ages.

Last, that medicines can be stopped once you feel well. The blood-thinning plan protects the valve during the months when clot risk is highest, and only the prescribing clinician should change it.

Questions to ask your care team

The best conversations before and after TAVI happen when you arrive with specific questions rather than general worry. These are the ones that tend to unlock the most useful answers. Write down the replies; recovery brains drop details.

• Which route will you use for the catheter, and how does that change my first day and my activity limits?
• Will I have sedation or a general anaesthetic, and why that choice for me?
• What is my individual risk of needing a pacemaker, given my valve type and my heart’s current electrical pattern?
• How will I know the groin is healing normally, and what should the site look like at three days and at ten days?
• Which blood-thinning medicines will I take, what does each one do, and for how long is the current plan intended before it is reviewed?
• What should my resting pulse and blood pressure be at home, and at what readings do you want a call?
• When can I drive, when can I lift, and when can I return to my specific job or hobby?
• Am I being referred to cardiac rehabilitation, and if not, why not?
• When is my follow-up echocardiogram, and who will explain the result to me?
• Do I need antibiotics before dental work, and how do I tell a new dentist about my valve?
• Who do I call out of hours, and which symptoms mean I should go straight to emergency care rather than phone?

Two further questions are worth asking even though they feel awkward. First, what would make you delay or cancel the procedure on the day? Knowing that an infection, a kidney result or a rhythm finding can pause things removes the shock if it happens. Second, if the valve does not perform as hoped, what are the options? Teams have answers to both, and hearing them beforehand tends to make the whole timeline feel more like a shared plan than something that happens to you.

When to call your doctor

Most of the sensations after TAVI are expected and pass. A short list of signs is different, and for these the instruction is to call your team, or emergency services where noted, rather than to wait for the next appointment. Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins patient guidance all flag the same groups of symptoms.

Call emergency services immediately for: sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side; difficulty speaking or understanding speech; sudden loss of vision or severe unexplained headache, all of which can signal a stroke; chest pain or pressure that does not settle with rest; a faint, blackout or near-collapse; sudden severe breathlessness or breathlessness at rest; or bleeding from the groin that does not stop with firm pressure for several minutes.

Call your care team the same day for: a groin lump that is enlarging, pulsating, hot or increasingly painful; redness spreading from the site, fluid or pus, or a fever; a foot on the procedure side that is cold, pale, numb or newly painful; a pulse that is persistently very slow, very fast or irregular compared with what you were told to expect; new palpitations, dizziness or light-headedness on standing that does not improve; swelling of the ankles or abdomen or a rapid weight gain over a few days, which can signal fluid building up; new confusion or unusual drowsiness; black or bloody stools, blood in the urine or vomiting blood, or unusually heavy bruising elsewhere while on blood thinners.

A short seek-care paragraph for the wider picture: any new symptom that is worsening over hours rather than days, or that frightens you, is a reasonable reason to call. Teams would far rather hear about a harmless bruise than miss a treatable problem, and the number you were given at discharge exists for exactly this.

Every decision about what a symptom means, and what to do next, belongs with the clinicians who know your heart, your medicines and your imaging. This article can only tell you which doors to knock on.

Frequently asked questions

How long is the typical TAVI recovery time before I feel normal again?

Most people return to ordinary daily activities within a few weeks, according to patient guidance from Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins, with the first fortnight focused on short walks and healing of the groin. Full fitness and any improvement in the heart muscle itself unfold over months. Age, frailty, kidney function and other conditions all change the pace, and your treating team is the only reliable source for your own expected timeline.

What are the stages of recovery after TAVI?

Recovery moves through a procedure day of monitoring and lying flat, a first day of supervised walking and an echocardiogram, discharge once rhythm and groin are stable, a first 72 hours at home when tiredness and bruising peak, weeks one and two of gradually longer walks with no lifting, weeks three to six when restrictions lift and follow-up imaging happens, then months of rebuilding fitness and lifelong periodic valve checks.

What is the first step in recovery after TAVI?

The first step is usually a literal one: sitting up, standing and walking a few metres with a nurse or physiotherapist within hours of the procedure, once the groin puncture has sealed and sedation has cleared. Early mobilisation reduces the risk of blood clots, chest infection and confusion that come with lying still, and it gives people early confidence that the body is allowed to move.

What are the most common challenges in recovery from TAVI?

Tiredness that arrives without warning, broken sleep, low mood, poor appetite and a dramatic-looking thigh bruise are the challenges people mention most. Each is common after cardiac procedures and usually eases with a steady walking routine, short daytime rests and time. Persistent low mood, new confusion or a bruise that changes in size, heat or pain should be reported to your team rather than waited out.

How soon can I walk after TAVI, and how far?

Supervised walking commonly starts within hours of a groin-access TAVI and continues from the first day at home. Several short walks spread through the day are preferred over one long effort, and distance is added gradually over the first two weeks. Effort that leaves you unable to speak a full sentence is too much for that day. Your team gives the specific limits that apply to your access route and heart function.

How long will I stay in the cardiac unit after TAVI?

Mayo Clinic describes a hospital stay of a few days as typical, and Cleveland Clinic notes many people go home within one or two days after a straightforward procedure. Discharge usually requires a stable heart rhythm, a dry and settled access site, and the ability to walk safely. A new conduction problem or the need for a pacemaker can extend the stay, and the decision rests with your treating team.

What does life after TAVI look like in the longer term?

Life after TAVI usually settles into a routine of periodic echocardiograms, a blood-thinning plan set by your clinician, antibiotics before certain dental procedures where advised, and the general heart-protective habits of activity, blood pressure control and not smoking. Tissue valves wear over time, so surveillance continues for life. Many people report easier breathing and more stamina, though the degree of improvement varies with how weakened the heart was beforehand.

Why is a large bruise on my thigh normal after TAVI?

The femoral artery is a large vessel, and even a well-sealed puncture leaks a little blood into the surrounding tissue, which tracks down the thigh under gravity and turns purple, then yellow-green over a week or two. Patient guidance from Cleveland Clinic describes this as expected. What matters is change: a lump that enlarges, pulsates, becomes hot or leaks fluid needs a same-day call to your team.

Why might I need a pacemaker after TAVI?

The new valve frame expands within a few millimetres of the fibres that carry electrical signals through the heart, and pressure on them can cause heart block, a slowing or interruption of the signal. MedlinePlus and Mayo Clinic list pacemaker need among recognised TAVI risks. Most conduction problems appear within the first day or two, which is why continuous monitoring in a cardiac unit is standard. Your team can estimate your individual risk.

When can I drive, lift and return to work after TAVI?

Lifting, pushing and straining are usually avoided for roughly one to two weeks per Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins guidance, to protect the groin artery seal. Driving rules vary by country and programme; many teams ask you to wait until an emergency stop causes no groin pain and rhythm concerns are settled. Desk work often resumes within a few weeks, physical jobs later. Ask your team for the instruction specific to you.

References

• Cleveland Clinic: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
• MedlinePlus: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement
• NHS: Aortic valve replacement, recovery

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.