Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Era Research Articles

Balloon aortic valvuloplasty of severe aortic stenosis in the era of TAVR

Introduction. Balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) is a percutaneous treatment option for aortic stenosis (AS). Because of early restenosis and poor long-term survival, it is used as a bridge to surgery (SAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), in hemodinamically unstable patients or patients that require urgent non-cardiac surgery. Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate all the BAV procedures performed in our centre in 2010 and to report our experience with BAV as a potential bridge to definitive therapy or as a palliative treatment. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed all the patients who underwent percutaneous treatment of aortic stenosis in our institution between January and December 2010. We stratified our cohort into 3 groups: BAV as a bridge to TAVR or SAVR, BAV as a final therapy and TAVR without prior BAV. We evaluated patient characteristics, echocardiographic data and peri-procedural complications in each cohort. Survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results. We included 86 high risk symptomatic patients with mean age of 82.2 ± 5.0 years and mean logistic EuroSCORE of 19.2 ± 11.8 %. After BAV we observed a significant decrease in mean transvalvular gradient (from 43.8 ± 14.4 to 33.5 ± 12.3 mmHg; p < 0.01) and a significant increase in aortic valve area after BAV (from 0.6 ± 0.2 to 0.8 ± 0.3 cm2; p < 0.01). Systolic pulmonary artery pressure, left ventricular ejection fraction and mitral regurgitation did not change significantly. Major intrahospital complications occurred in 5 patients (6.5 %), without any death related to the procedure. BAV as a bridge to TAVR had a better outcome compared with BAV alone. Conclusion. BAV is a feasible and reasonably safe approach for temporary relief of symptoms, improvement of quality of life, decrease of surgical risk prior major non-cardiac surgery or as a bridge to surgical or transcatheter aortic valve implantation in severe aortic stenosis.

Balloon aortic valvuloplasty in the era of transcatheter aortic valve replacement: Acute and long-term outcomes

The use of balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) has resurged since the development of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The aim of our study was to determine the procedural and long-term outcomes of patients treated by BAV in the early TAVR era. From 2005 to 2008, 323 consecutive patients presenting with severe aortic stenosis were treated by BAV in our institution. Mean age and logistic EuroSCORE were 80.5 ± 9.9 years and 28.7% ± 12.5%, respectively. The effective orifice area increased from 0.68 ± 0.25 to 1.12 ± 0.39 cm(2) (P < .001) after BAV. Inhospital major complications occurred in 22 patients (6.8%), with a mortality rate of 2.5%. Eighty-five patients (26.3%) were bridged to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR, 9.6%) or TAVR (16.7%). Twenty-eight patients (8.7%) had at least 1 repeat BAV. Two hundred ten patients (65%) received only medical therapy post-BAV. Mean duration of follow-up was 20.7 ± 20.0 months. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that survival after single BAV was poor. Patients treated by BAV followed by SAVR or TAVR had the highest long-term survival rate (P < .001). Multivariable analysis revealed that logistic EuroSCORE, severe aortic regurgitation and stroke complications post-BAV, and medical therapy post-BAV were independent predictors of mortality. The results of our study suggest that BAV is an acceptable bridge to SAVR or TAVR in a very high-risk population not immediately suitable for definitive therapy. Balloon aortic valvuloplasty remains only a brief temporizing procedure with a poor long-term outcome without subsequent definitive therapy.

Management of paravalvular regurgitation after Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter aortic valve replacement: Management of paravalvular regurgitation after TAVR

With the expansion in the use of transcatheter valve therapies for aortic stenosis, the incidence of hemodynamically significant paravalvular regurgitation (PVR) has become a clinical challenge. The study population consisted of those patients with either acute significant PVR immediately post-Edwards SAPIEN (ES) aortic valve implantation, requiring additional maneuvers during the index transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or symptomatic PVR requiring treatment by transcatheter closure at a later date. All the patients were assessed within 24 hrs, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months after the procedure. A total of 100 consecutive patients underwent ES TAVR (62% with 23 mm and 38% with 26 mm valve), of them 27% (27/100) were identified to have hemodynamically significant PVR requiring additional percutaneous interventions during or after the index procedure. Patient's mean age was 85 ± 12 years and 74% (20/27) were male. The mean Society of Thoracic Surgeon Score was 11.3% (range 4.6-17.6%), 59% had a 23 mm and 41% had a 26 mm ES valve. There was no difference in the occurrence of PVR between a) two valve sizes-23 mm (16/62) vs. 26 mm (11/38) (P = 0.817) and b) the two approaches-transfemoral (15/48) vs. transapical (TA) (12/52) (P = 0.37). A total of 32 procedures were performed on the 27 patients: one patient required four and two required two procedures each. There were 19 repeat ballooning, seven valve in valve and six transcatheter device closure procedures. The approach was retrograde in 66%, antegrade transeptal in 6% and antegrade TA in 28%. The procedural success rate was 90.6%, the total 30-day, 3 months and 6 months mortality rate was 7.4, 18.5, and 22% respectively. At the time of final analysis a total of 56% (15/27) had completed a 12 month follow-up. The management of PVR in the TAVR era is a technical challenge. We present our experience and propose a management approach.

Postextrasystolic Potentiation in Low‐Gradient, Severe Aortic Stenosis: A Poor Man's Stress Echo?

An elderly man with dyspnea and syncope was found to have severe aortic stenosis (AS) by the continuity equation, despite a transaortic gradient that was only moderately elevated, in the setting of severe left ventricular dysfunction. The transaortic gradient increased during postextrasystolic beats, suggesting that his that his AS was truly severe; this was confirmed by dobutamine echocardiography. He underwent transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR), with subsequent improvement in left ventricular systolic function. The diagnostic and prognostic significance of postextrasystolic potentiation, with associated increase in aortic stenosis gradient, deserves renewed attention in the TAVR era.

Coronary Artery Disease and Aortic Stenosis in the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Era

Significant coronary artery disease (CAD) is present in up to 50% of patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS). Although numerous databases have shown that the addition of bypass grafting to an aortic valve replacement (AVR) nearly doubles the mortality, surgical series have shown that leaving significant coronary stenosis untreated increases AVR mortality.1–4 Thus, the standard of care for this population has been concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting along with surgical aortic valve replacement. Article see p 1005 Historically, the role of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the setting of severe AS has been limited and mainly directed to patients with acute coronary syndrome. However, PCI has been occasionally used in treating those patients in whom the risk of surgical AVR is prohibitive in attempts to palliate symptoms or to differentiate coronary from valvular syndromes. Recently, several new indications for PCI in the setting of AS have been proposed: in the context of hybrid procedures using PCI with AVR and in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Several groups have been investigating the role of hybrid procedures for the treatment of concomitant CAD and AS. Percutaneous coronary intervention either immediately preceding or simultaneously with surgery has been shown in limited series to be safe.5 Admittedly, there may be a strong publication bias favoring studies with superior outcomes, and larger studies are underway. The goal of hybrid procedures is to reduce a higher-risk coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)/AVR to 2 potentially lower-risk and less morbid procedures. There are at least 2 important considerations raised by this concept. First, can PCI be performed safely in the setting of AS, and if so what is the best timing for it? Second, what is the impact of the necessary dual antiplatelet therapy on bleeding with surgery? There are …

Gait Speed and Dependence in Activities of Daily Living in Older Adults With Severe Aortic Stenosis

In the transcatheter aortic valve replacement era, characterization of functional status in older adults with aortic stenosis (AS) is essential. Gait speed (GS) is emerging as a marker of frailty and predictor of outcomes in older adults undergoing cardiovascular intervention. The objective of this study was to delineate the prevalence of slow GS, evaluate the association of GS with factors used in standard cardiovascular assessments, and evaluate the association of GS with dependence in activities of daily living (ADLs) in older adults with AS. We hypothesized that gait speed would not be associated with clinical factors, but would be associated with ADLs. We evaluated GS, ADLs dependence, and Society of Thoracic Surgery score along with clinical and functional assessments in 102 older adults with AS being evaluated for transcatheter valve. Gait speed <0.5 m/s was considered slow, and GS ≥0.5 m/s was considered preserved. We assessed the association of covariates with GS as well as with ADLs dependence. Median GS was 0.37 m/s (interquartile range, 0.0-0.65 m/s). Sixty-four (63%) subjects had slow GS. Of commonly employed clinical covariates, only prior coronary intervention and serum albumin were weakly associated with GS. However, GS was independently associated with ADLs dependence (Odds ratio: 1.52 [1.21-1.91] for every 0.1 m/s decrease in GS; P = 0.0003). Although the prevalence of slow GS in a population of elderly patients with severe AS being screened for transcatheter valve was high, there were only weak associations between GS and other risk stratifying tools. The strong association between GS and dependent functional status suggests that assessment of gait speed is a useful, objectively measurable, risk stratification tool in this population.