Original Title: Treatment of Symptomatic Severe Aortic Stenosis with a Novel Resheathable Supra-Annular Self-Expanding Transcatheter Aortic Valve System. Reference: Ganesh Manoharan et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv. 2015; 8(10):1359-1367. Courtesy of Dr. Agustín Vecchia. Despite the rapid growth and evolution of transcatheter aortic valve replacement devices (TAVR), vascular access complications, paravalvular leak, stroke…
Percutaneous mitral valve replacement: First steps
Original Title: Percutaneous Transvenous Transseptal Transcatheter Valve Implantation in Failed Bioprosthetic Mitral Valves, Ring Annuloplasty, and Severe Mitral Annular Calcification. Reference: Eleid MF et al. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2016 Jun 13;9(11):1161-74. Courtesy of Dr. Agustín Vecchia. Transfemoral percutaneous transvenous mitral valve implantation is a promising technique and, despite the fact that no devices…
Extreme Valve Calcification in TAVI might compromise technical success
Original Title: Ballon-Expandable Trancatheter Aortic valve Replacement in Patients whit Extreme Aortic Valve Calcification. Reference: Yigal Abramowitz, et al. Catetherization and Cardiovascular Intervention 2016;87:117-1179. Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI) emerged as a valid option to treat high risk inoperable patients. A group of these patients presents extreme valve…
Low gradient and LV Dysfunction: TAVI or not?
Original Title: Impact of ejection fraction and aortic valve gradient on outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Reference: Baron SJ et al. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016;67:2349-2358. Low aortic valve gradient and left ventricular dysfunction are frequent in patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI) but only low aortic valve…
Bad prognosis in patients with aortic regurgitation post TAVI
Original Title: Aortic Regurgitation Following Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Impact of Preprocedural Left Ventricular Diastolic Filling Patterns on Late Clinical Outcomes. Reference: Amir Halkin, et al. Catheterization Cardiovascular Intervention 2016;87:1156-1163. Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Even though the mechanisms underlying post TAVI aortic regurgitation (ARpost) remain unclear, there is no question this complication is…
Post TAVI pacemaker implantation does not increase mortality
Original Title: Impact of New-Onset Left Bundle Branch Block and Periprocedural Permanent Pacemaker Implantation on Clinical Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Reference: Ander Regueiro et al. Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2016 May;9(5). Available data on the clinical impact of the new-onset left bundle branch block (LBBB) and…
Low risk patients: TAVI or surgical replacement?
Original Title: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Compared With Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement in Low-Risk Patients. Reference: Stefano Rosato et al. Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2016 May;9(5):e003326. The proved efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in high risk patients is leading the expansion of its indication for lower risk patients. All the same, compared to the…
Hemodynamic assessment of post TAVR aortic regurgitation
Original Title: Hemodynamic Assessment of Aortic Regurgitation after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement – The Diastolic Pressure-Time Index. Reference: Robert Höllriegel et al. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2016 Apr 16. Courtesy of Dr. Agustín Vecchia. In 2012 Sinning and collaborators presented a study in the “Journal of the American College of Cardiology” about an index…
Favorable Outcomes with New Generation Transcatheter Heart Valves in Bicuspids
Original Title: Bicuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis Favorable Early Outcomes UIT a Next-Generation Transcatheter Heart Valve in a Multicenter Study. Reference: Gidon Y. Perlman J Am Coll Cardiol Interv 2016;9:817-24 Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Congenital bicuspid aortic valves are infrequent and are associated with severe calcification in elderly patients. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement to treat bicuspid…
Occupational Hazzard in the Cath Lab
Original Title: Occupational Health Risks in Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Workers. Reference: Maria Grazia Andreassi et al. Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2016 Apr;9(4). Orthopedic lesions and radiation exposure are among the health risks Cath Lab staff take. However, the potential occupational hazard in quantitative terms is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the…
TAVI in asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis?
Original Title: Natural history, diagnostic approaches, and therapeutic strategies for patients with asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis. Reference: Généreux P et al. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016; Epub ahead of print. Given that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI) is now being prescribed to lower risk patients, some wonder whether it is time to study the benefit…