Patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) are characterized by asymmetric anatomy, severe calcification and combined aortic dilatation. Compared with tricuspid aortic valve stenosis patients, patients with BAV stenosis confront with greater surgical risks in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), including paravalvular leak, aortic valve rupture, coronary artery obstruction, atrioventricular block and so on. However, with the advent of new generation of prosthetic valves and optimization of surgical strategies, several studies have shown that TAVR is safe and effective in the treatment of BAV stenosis. Therefore, we aim to provide an overview of the use of TAVR in patients with BAV stenosis.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has entered a new and critical stage after nearly 20 years of rapid development in China. There are various types of TAVR valves with different advantages. TAVR can be performed through various approaches such as transfemoral artery, transapical, trans-carotid artery, or trans-ascending aorta. The first two are more common. Echocardiography plays an important role in the perioperative period of TAVR. Compared to transfemoral approach, transapical TAVR has different key points in perioperative echocardiography which is lack of unified and accurate standards. This standard is specially formulated to focus on the key points of echocardiography in preoperative screening, intraoperative monitoring and postoperative follow-up in order to promote the safe and effective application of transapical TAVR in the clinic.
Objective To compare the clinical and hemodynamic results of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with different vascular approaches. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the baseline status, procedure status, procedure-related clinical complications defined by Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 consensus document, and postoperative hemodynamic results of patients with severe aortic stenosis who underwent TAVR between April 2012 and January 2019 in West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Results A total of 436 patients were enrolled, including 58 patients undergoing surgical cutdown and 378 patients undergoing percutaneous puncture. The prevalence of tumor in the surgical cutdown group was higher than that in the percutaneous puncture group (8.62% vs. 2.65%, P=0.037), while the other baseline characteristics, including age, male proportion, body mass index, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons scores, were similar between the two groups (P>0.05); the proportion of patients with aortic regurgitation equal to or greater than a moderate degree in the surgical cutdown group was lower than that in the percutaneous puncture group (22.41% vs. 35.98%, P=0.043), and there was no statistically significant difference in other preoperative cardiac ultrasound-related indicators (P>0.05). The procedure success rate was high in both groups (96.55% vs. 98.68%, P=0.236). Immediately after operation, the incidences of new-onset left bundle branch block (43.10% vs. 24.87%, P=0.004), severe bleeding (12.07% vs. 4.23%, P=0.030), and mild bleeding (20.69% vs. 3.44%, P<0.001) were higher in the surgical cutdown group than those in the percutaneous puncture group, and the postoperative hemodynamics indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in maximum blood flow velocity between the two groups [(2.37±0.52) vs. (2.50±1.67) m/s, P=0.274]. At the 1 year follow-up, the cardiac death rate (5.17% vs. 3.17%, P=0.696) and all-causes mortality rate (8.62% vs. 8.47%, P=1.000) between the two groups were not statistically different.Conclusions Compared with percutaneous puncture, surgical cutdown is associated with a higher incidence of bleeding events, while the incidence of other clinical complications such as vascular complications and the postoperative hemodynamic outcomes were similar.
Valvular heart disease (VHD) is a common cardiac disease. Patients with severe VHD have a poor prognosis. With the development of minimal invasive treatments in VHD, especially with the wide application of transcatheter aortic valve replacement in aortic stenosis, these diseases have been regained attention. The disease spectrum and modes of treatment have also changed. However, we currently lack a large population-based VHD-related epidemiologic study in China. In this article, we will summarize the current status of VHD in China using available epidemiologic data.
Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using the SAPIEN 3 system. MethodsThis was a prospective, multicenter, single arm study in 4 centers in China. The clinical data of 50 patients with high-risk symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who underwent TAVR using the SAPIEN 3 system from June 2017 to June 2019 were analyzed, including 27 males and 23 females aged 76.8±6.1 years. ResultsThe Society of Thoracic Surgeon score was 6.0%±2.8%. Totally, 20.0% of patients had severe bicuspid aortic stenosis. The operation time was 41.8±16.5 min and the hospital stay time was 8.5±5.0 d. At the postoperative 30-day follow-up, no all-cause mortality occurred and the device success rate was 89.5%. Major vascular complications occurred in one (2.0%) patient, stroke in one (2.0%) patient, new pacemaker implantation in one (2.0%) patient, as well as coronary artery obstruction in one (2.0%) patient. There was no moderate or moderate/severe paravalvular leak. The aortic pressure gradient was decreased from 49.2±16.2 mm Hg before the operation to 12.4±4.6 mm Hg at the postoperative 30-day follow-up, and the valvular area was increased from 0.6±0.3 cm2 to 1.3±0.3 cm2 (P<0.01). Moreover, the New York Heart Association classification in 83.7% of the patients was improved during the follow-up. ConclusionThis pre-marketing multicenter study has demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of transfemoral TAVR with the SAPIEN 3 transcatheter valve system in Chinese aortic stenosis patients at high risk for surgery.
An 89 years old male patient was admitted to the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital due to chest tightness and shortness of breath for half a month. Severe aortic valve stenosis was found in post admission assessment. We proposed to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement surgery. Preoperative evaluation showed severe distortion of the descending aorta. We used the double guide wire technique and a 14F long sheath to assist the stepwise balloon expansion, and successfully completed the valve implantation. For patients with severe tortuous aorta, how to successfully complete transcatheter aortic valve replacement, this case may provide some reference.
The short-term mortality of patients with severe aortic stenosis is high, which presents a great challenge to clinical treatment. With the development of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), emergent TAVR brings hope for the treatment of these patients. We present here a case of emergent TAVR procedure. The patient was an elderly male who had previously undergone surgical mitral valve replacement. After fully assessing the risk/benefit of TAVR procedure, emergent TAVR was performed for the patient. The patient was in good condition at two-month follow-up. Emergent TAVR is a good option for critical high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis.
Commissural misalignment of biological valve and autologous valve during transcatheter aortic valve replacement may affect the filling of coronary artery, reduce the feasibility of redo-aortic valve intervention and damage the valve function, which will adversely affect long-term prognosis of patients. Some studies have obtained achievement by changing the axial direction of valve and using individualized computer simulation technology to improve the alignment technology. However, there are still many unknown problems about the impact of commissural misalignment on patients, and accurate commissural alignment techniques still need to be further explored. This article systematically expounds the possible impact of commissural misalignment between biological valve and autologous valve in transcatheter aortic valve replacement, possibly effective accurate commissural alignment techniques and related research progress.
This article presented the clinical diagnosis and management of a patient with severe aortic regurgitation and moderate aortic stenosis who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement complicated with coronary obstruction and retroperitoneal hematoma. The hemodynamics collapsed during the procedure, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement was performed under support of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and coronary protection. After a negative coronary angiography, the wire was extracted, but a repeated angiography showed left coronary obstruction, so a coronary stent was implanted to the ostium of left coronary artery through the grid of the valve stent. Abdominal CT showed a giant retroperitoneal hematoma 2 weeks after transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and the emergent angiography indicated contrast leakage from left external iliac artery, so a balloon compression was performed followed by a covered stent implantation. This article also provided the clinical characteristics, risk factors and management of coronary obstruction and vascular complication for clinical reference.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) at different stages on prognosis of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).MethodsDatabases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) were searched by computer to collect cohort studies on impact of different stages of CKD on prognosis of TAVR from inception to July 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies, and then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 15.0 software. Risk of study bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS).ResultsA total of 17 cohort studies were included with NOS score≥6 points. The results of meta-analysis indicated that: compared with the patients without CKD, all-cause mortality of CKD stage 3 patients at 30 day (RR=1.29, 95%CI 1.22-1.37, P<0.001) and 1 year (RR=1.24, 95%CI 1.19-1.28, P<0.001), all-cause mortality of CKD stage 4 patients at 30 day (RR=2.10, 95%CI 1.90-2.31, P<0.001) and 1 year (RR=1.89, 95%CI 1.62-2.19, P<0.001), and all-cause mortality of CKD stage 5 patients at 30 day (RR=2.22, 95%CI 1.62-2.19, P<0.001) and 1 year (RR=2.24, 95%CI 1.75-2.87, P<0.001) were significantly increased and were associated with the severity of CKD. The occurrence rates of 1-year cardiovascular mortality, postoperative acute kidney injury and bleeding events were all higher in patients with CKD.ConclusionCKD at stages 3, 4 and 5 is associated with increased all-cause mortality after TAVR, and the higher the stage of CKD is, the higher the risk of all-cause mortality at 30-day and 1-year follow-up is. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.