Tricuspid valve regurgitation is more common than one might think. It often stems from left valve disease and associated with increased mortality and hospitalization due to heart failure, which is not easy to treat. Currently, guidelines list surgery as the recommended treatment, though this option is quite complex and might entail complications and mortality risk....
TAVI-in-TAVI with Balloon-Expandable Valves
TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation) has proven to be beneficial and is currently performed in increasingly younger and lower-risk patients. However, as with surgical bioprostheses, structural deterioration, whether due to stenosis or regurgitation, is one of the challenges we must address. While currently uncommon, this is an issue we will probably see more and more...
Post-TAVI Prosthesis-Patient Mismatch
Prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) occurs when the effective orifice area (EOA) after valve placement is significantly smaller compared with the patient’s body surface area (BSA), resulting in an increased transprosthetic residual gradient. The presence of PPM, especially in various surgical series, has been associated with long-term adverse clinical events. In relation to transcatheter aortic valve implantation...
Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion: Clinical Outcomes according to Device Implantation Depth
Continuous improvement of left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices has had a positive impact on the safety and efficacy of this technique. However, device related thrombus formation (DRT) is still a major concern because of the associated increased risk of thromboembolic events. Approaching this complication calls for more intense antithrombotic treatments, which in turn involves...
bRight: Impact and Safety of the TriClip Device in a Real-World Cohort
The clinical importance of severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) has been underestimated for many years now. However, studies and registries have shown that, when left untreated, this pathology significantly increases morbidity and mortality. Patients in need of treatment are often older individuals with higher surgical risk due to the prevalence of this condition. Contemporary data has...
SCOPE I Results at 3 Years: ACURATE Neo vs. SAPIEN 3
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become the standard treatment for elderly patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. While this has led to the development of new devices with different features, evidence from randomized studies on these new scaffolds is limited. The randomized SCOPE I study (Safety and Efficacy of the Symetis ACURATE Neo/TF Compared...
Mitral Valve Edge to Edge Repair for Papillary Muscle Rupture after Acute Myocardial Infarction
With an approximate incidence of 0.05% to 0.25%, post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mitral valve failure caused by papillary muscle rupture is not exactly common. However, it is associated to high mortality rate, ranging between 36% and 80%. Current guidelines recommend surgical treatment, but more often than not surgery involves prohibitive or extremely high risk, with...
TAVR Durability at 5 Years in Intermediate Risk Patients
TAVR has been shown beneficial in patients across the risk spectrum. The PARTNER 2 SAPIEN 3 (P2S3i) study on intermediate risk patients was the first to show TAVR superiority vs SAVR when using the transfemoral approach. SAVR durability has been shown in different analysis but, except for a few reports, TAVR durability at long term...
Is Edge-to-Edge Treatment with PASCAL Effective at 3 Years?
Mitral regurgitation is the most common valvular heart disease. Its cause is most frequently functional or secondary dysfunction (functional mitral regurgitation, FMR) compared with degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR), which is associated with decreased ventricular function, hospitalization for heart failure, and mortality. While medical treatment is effective over extended periods, a significant number of patients cannot...
Cerebrovascular Events in the COAPT Study
Transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) with MitraClip has demonstrated its benefit compared with complete guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT), according to the results of the COAPT Study. While cerebrovascular events (CVE), such as stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), are rare, they can occur during the procedure (transseptal puncture, device positioning, or device release) or during follow-up...