SARASOTA, Fla. (Feb 27, 2025) – Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s cardiac surgeons are helping patients save their aortic valves, and ultimately their lives, utilizing the Florida Sleeve, a procedure designed to offer a faster, safer treatment option for potentially deadly aortic valve disorders and aortic root aneurysms.
Aortic root aneurysms occur when the aortic root (the closest part of the blood vessel attached to the heart) becomes enlarged. When an aneurysm develops in this location, it can weaken the aorta walls and cause the aortic valve to malfunction, allowing blood to leak back into the heart. Left untreated, the condition often leads to heart failure or potential deadly aortic dissection.
Bradenton resident Steve Ware had been living with an aortic root aneurysm for the past 20 years, with careful monitoring by his medical team. When he also developed a mitral valve disorder, Ware turned to the specialized cardiac surgery team at SMH-Sarasota, where cardiothoracic surgeons Jeffrey Sell, MD, and Kristen Walker, MD, performed a joint operation to repair both valves and deployed a Florida Sleeve to treat his aneurysm before it turned deadly. He was the first patient at SMH to have both valves and aneurysm repaired in a single surgical procedure.
“I am so happy ... I can’t say enough about the team at Sarasota Memorial,” Ware said after the surgery last Fall. “I don’t get tired anymore, and I’m actually getting back to some of my fitness routines.
An advanced approach to treating aortic root aneurysms, the Florida Sleeve is a valve-sparing surgical procedure that involves wrapping a graft around the weakened aortic root, providing support and preventing an aneurysm from growing.
"The Florida Sleeve is technically faster and simpler than other procedures available for valve repair,” said Dr. Walker, who brought the technique to SMH from the University of Florida where it was originally developed. “It gets the patient on and off the heart and lung machine much faster, which leads to faster recovery times and fewer complications. Patients like Mr. Ware do exceptionally well, and it’s great to maintain the native valve for patients, watch them recover, and ultimately be protected from the dangers of the aneurysm.”
To learn more about the Florida Sleeve, check out this SMH podcast interview with Dr. Walker:
To learn more about Ware’s condition and treatment experience, view SMH’s patient education video below:
About the SMH Heart Team
Sarasota Memorial delivers the most comprehensive and advanced cardiovascular services in the region. With our multi-disciplinary, team-based approach to cardiac care, patients benefit from collective expertise and decades of experience in evaluating and treating such conditions as irregular heartbeat, heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery disease, valve disorders, and other cardiovascular and thoracic disorders. For more information visit smh.com/heart.
About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional medical center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with 2,500 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 2 million patient visits a year across its network of care. Sarasota County’s largest employer, the community-owned health system includes two full-service hospitals in Sarasota and Venice, freestanding ERs in North Port and Lakewood Ranch, a behavioral health hospital, skilled nursing facility and a comprehensive network of outpatient centers, urgent care clinics and physician practices. Founded in 1925, SMH is celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2025 and encouraging community members to visit smh.com/100 throughout the year for centennial events and updates.