LARGO, Fla. — Marsha Grever was a ticking time bomb. Dr. Saurabh Sanon knew she would have died if she didn't get help for her heart. 

What You Need To Know

  •  After three major heart surgeries, Marsha Grever was denied a fourth open heart surgery

  •  A pseudoaneurysm had formed on and around her heart; she would have died if not treated

  •  HCA Florida Largo Hospital cardiologist Dr. Saurabh Sanon performed a transcatheter closure

  • The procedure is one of the first to be done in the Tampa Bay area

Grever, 75, had already had three open heart surgeries. A fourth was not an option, even after a pseudoaneurysm had formed in and around her heart. 

"Really presented a very unique, but precarious clinical problem," Dr. Sanon said. 

Grever said the precariousness started actually when she was very young. 

“Due to rheumatic fever when I was 12, I had my first open heart surgery at age 29," Grever said. 

That open heart surgery was one of the first done in Tampa. Newspapers even wrote about the medical advancement at the time. 

Since then, she has had two more. One at 46 years old and another last year.

“This may be part of what I was put here for, ya know we all have a purpose," Grever said. 

She is a very faithful woman. She said purpose because after complications following her 2022 surgery, that pseudoaneurysm formed. 

Pointing to a monitor, Dr. Sanon showed the large blob-like problem.

"It’s got two different lobes, and you can see how large this is compared to the patient’s heart," he said. 

Grever was directed to Dr. Sanon and his team at HCA Florida Largo Hospital. He and his team came up with a non-surgical option. 

They decided to do a tans catheter closure of the pseudo-aneurysm. 

“We went in from a vein in the leg, into the right side of the heart, crossed over to the left side. Through the mitral valve, and then we deployed a patch or a plug, to close this hole and repair it from the inside," Dr. Sanon said. 

This was a first for HCA Florida Largo Hospital, and really a first for the Tampa Bay area. 

“So here you can see the CT scan that we did the next morning after the procedure. This is where the pseudoaneurysm used to be," Dr. Sanon said. 

Grever feels very good now, more than a month after the successful procedure. She is also very thankful. 

“Thank you, God is good. Thank you. God is good," she said to Dr. Sanon at a check-up. 

The success of this procedure is a big deal. It means patients in the Tampa Bay area, who are not candidates for open heart surgery, now have any option for help and healing.