Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Mitral regurgitation accounts for around 25% of valvular diseases and is a strong mortality predictor in heart disease. One of the challenges of this disease is that patients respond favorably to medical treatment for a long time, which makes hard to establish the right time to perform an intervention without...
The new drug-eluting stents (DES) equipped with ultra-thin struts are showing a lower risk of target lesion failure as a result of lower rates of acute myocardial infarction and similar rates of revascularization, according to this meta-analysis soon to be published in Circulation. Such a difference is evidenced at a 1-year follow-up when compared with...
SOLACI thanks the 210 attendees ─physicians, nurses, technicians and other professionals. Without them, we would not have achieved such scientific success at these regional sessions. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the Guatemalan Cardiology Association, to the organization, and to the entire Guatemala for the hospitality and generosity they graciously bestowed upon...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. It has been shown that significant tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is an independent predictor of bad evolution in the presence of mitral valve disease. Its prevalence is not low, reaching up to 50% in patients undergoing surgery for mitral regurgitation (MR). This study included 61 patients with significant TR and MR. 27...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Aortic stenosis with cardiac failure or cardiogenic shock involves high mortality risk at short term. Surgery in these conditions is often unsafe, which leaves us with valvuloplasty, but only as a bridge to some other procedure, seeing as it is effective only for a short time. Few studies have looked into patients undergoing...
Several studies are defining the role of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with low surgical risk. One of the main concerns for this population, whose life expectancy is much longer, has to do with TAVR durability compared with a surgically-implanted biological valves. The Nordic Aortic Valve Intervention (NOTION) trial was the first study...
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) should not preclude this procedure. In fact, TAVR will resolve this condition in most cases. More than three quarters of patients undergoing TAVR have some level of PH, though this has not been associated to increased mortality, according to this...
The association between aortic stenosis and some degree of mitral stenosis (MS) is around 10% (depending on the series), and it is related with negative outcomes. In high-risk and inoperable patients who underwent TAVR, that association and its significance have not been studied yet. The study analyzed data from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American...
Classical symptomatic low-flow, low-gradient (LFLG) severe aortic stenosis is associated with low survival rates at 3 years (<50%). However, in the medium term and with surgery, those rates improve (although mortality rates are 6%-30%, depending on the series). In patients without contractile reserve, surgical mortality is higher. Patient evolution in TAVR is still mostly unclear. ...
Aortic stenosis increases afterload creating hypertrophy as a compensation mechanism to maintain minute volume. This leads to left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). More than half of patients presenting aortic stenosis have LVDD and myocardial fibrosis, which is a mortality predictor in surgery. At present, there is contradicting evidence in TAVR. The study looked...