However, thanks to a new procedure being offered at Dunedin Hospital, the 79-year-old Halfway Bush man was home in a matter of days, and is already back out in his beloved garden and tinkering with his car.
Valve replacements can be major operations requiring open-heart surgery and lengthy recovery times.
However, Mr Fraser is one of more than 40 Otago patients who meet the criteria for their operations to be done via catheter.
Most of the new procedures have been done under general anaesthetic, but the operation can be done with a local anaesthetic — Mr Fraser was the first patient to have his valve replaced that way.
"They were great, and explained everything right down to the last detail," Mr Fraser said.
"For the surgery, I lay awake there and watched it all on screen — it’s incredible."
The procedure is recent — it was first performed in France in 2002 — and quickly finding favour worldwide.
"It hasn’t replaced surgery, it is an adjunct to surgery — we can only do it in select patients," Dr Milburn said.
"It is a more expensive procedure, but ... if you were to compare it to surgery, older patients stay in hospital longer. So it can actually end up cheaper."
Where patients formerly had surgery, a 12-19 day stay in hospital and 2-3 month rehabilitation, these patients are seen in a lab rather than an operating theatre, do not go into intensive care, and are home within days.
Dr Milburn expected he and a team of surgeons and anaesthetists would do 20 valve operations annually.
That would likely increase as many of the target patients would previously not have been referred for surgery due to their malignant and potentially fatal heart condition.
"We offer this to people we expect will live more than two years — there is no crystal ball, we just have to make assumptions on that, but I can’t see us putting someone through this, with all its risks, if the patient couldn’t enjoy an improved lifestyle and improved quality of life and improved longevity."
"We had one patient who literally jumped up and clicked her heels, she was so excited about leaving hospital.
"We have changed these people’s lives."
The catheter can be inserted via the clavicle, groin, or if need be via the apex of the heart.
The valve is then slid through the veins to the aorta and slipped into place.
"Technically, it’s not that difficult, but you have to be fairly methodical with your implantation," Dr Milburn said.
"It’s like any procedure, if you do it often enough it will become routine, but there are risks with it ... we have had one patient die, and we have had strokes as well, but these are high-risk patients.
"I’m not going to say it will absolutely replace surgery, but it is nipping at its heels."
For patients like Mr Fraser, the pay-off far outweighed the percentage chance of the operation failing.
"Without the surgery, I was on my way out ... we realised the risks, but it was worth it," he said.
"Within a week I’d had my surgery and I was back home, which was unbelievable ..."I feel good, and they couldn’t have done enough for me."
