Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a frequent valvulopathy and when the optimal medical treatment at maximum tolerated doses is not enough, surgery is the first course of action. And even though edge-to-edge repair with clips has seen substantial improvement, it is currently reserved for those at high risk of surgery. However, there is an increasing number...
Severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) presents a reserved prognosis when not treated in time, seeing as systemic venous congestion might significantly limit quality of life in these patients. For many years it was thought diuretic therapy was the only option to treat these patients, since the surgical alternative offered suboptimal results and many patients were deemed...
iFR has been validated as a useful tool for intermediate lesion analysis, with the advantage of not requiring the use of drugs. On the other hand, its use for PCI outcome assessment has not yet been thoroughly looked into, even though there have been promising data. 24% of DEFINE PCI cases presented ≤0.89 iFR with...
Severe calcified aortic stenosis is a common condition that can currently be effectively treated with SAVR or TAVR. However, some patients, given comorbidities or anatomical characteristics, are not good candidates for these therapeutic alternatives. The non-invasive ultrasound therapy (NIUT) has surged as viable alternative. It claims ultrasound might act on calcified valves, and mobilize tissue...
Aortic stenosis (AS) is a progressive disease associated with morbidity and mortality, especially in severe cases. However, recent studies have revealed that moderate stenosis can also have unfavorable consequences in the course of the disease. One of the challenges lies in that determining its severity is sometimes difficult due to discrepancies between valve area, gradient,...
The incidence of stroke after TAVR ranges between 2 and 5%, depending on the series, which has been associated with higher morbimortality, affecting patient quality of life and their psycho-social environment. Many cerebral embolic protection systems have been developed in response, and even though they have been shown beneficial in many studies, their role in...
The presence of cardiogenic shock (CS) in a setting of aortic stenosis ranges from 1% to 4%. The prognosis for this scenario is ominous due to subendocardial ischemia, which presents as a decrease in ventricular preload and an increase in afterload. Aortic valvuloplasty has been used in this context, but, unfortunately, it has been associated...
The negative impact of mitral regurgitation (MR) on patient mortality, morbidity, and quality of life is widely recognized. However, only 15% of patients are referred for surgery due to their high surgical risk and low ejection fraction. Transcatheter edge-to-edge repair has become an important alternative for this group of patients. For subjects with degenerative MR,...
TCT has presented the 5-year clinical and echocardiographic outcomes of low-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis treated with transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using balloon-expandable Sapien valves vs. surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). The first primary end point was a non-hierarchical composite of all-cause mortality stroke or rehospitalization. The second was a hierarchical composite including...
The EXPAND G4 is a prospective multicenter single arm study on real life patients. It included a total 1,164 patients with primary (PMR) and secondary (SMR) mitral valve regurgitation treated with MitraClip G4. Research was carried out at multiple locations across US, Europe, the Middle East and Japan. Key outcomes assessed aspects such as all-cause...