Pulse Contour Cardiac Output Monitoring During a Complicated Percutaneous Aortic Valve Replacement

Abstract

AORTIC STENOSIS (AS) is the most common valvular heart disease in the aging population. Critical AS affects an estimated 3% of individuals over the age of 75 years. Although medical therapy has little to offer in terms of prognosis or symptomatic relief, at least one third of patients with severe AS are denied valve surgery as a result of age and comorbidity.1,2 In these very high-risk patients, percutaneous aortic valve replacement (P-AVR) recently has emerged as an alternative technique to open-chest surgery.