Aorta de porcelana y estenosis aórtica grave: ¿la implantación percutánea de válvula aórtica es el nuevo tratamiento estándar?

Current decision making and short-term outcome in patients with degenerative aortic stenosis: the Pooled-RotterdAm-Milano-Toulouse In Collaboration Aortic Stenosis survey

AIMS

The aim of this study was to provide a real-world snapshot of contemporary Heart Team decision making on patients with aortic stenosis (AS) and the consequent short-term clinical outcome.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This was an international multicentre prospective registry encompassing 390 patients with symptomatic severe AS who were prospectively enrolled. Clinical endpoints and the decisive arguments to opt for surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or medical therapy were recorded separately. The mean age was 76.4±11.6 years, 55% were male and the STS score was 2.9% (IQR 1.6-6.9). The local Heart Teams considered 43%, 25% and 23% to be at low, intermediate and high operative risk with a calculated STS score of 2.18±1.72, 5.08±2.76 and 13.15±9.43, respectively. Overall, 7% were deemed inoperable. Ninety-four percent of patients at low operative risk were sent for SAVR whereas 64% and 92% of intermediate and high-risk patients underwent TAVI. Only 6% of patients did not receive any kind of aortic valve replacement. Overall, 30-day all-cause mortality was 2.8%. TAVI was associated with more major vascular complications, need for permanent pacemakers and post-procedural aortic regurgitation. SAVR had more life-threatening bleedings and new-onset atrial fibrillation.

CONCLUSIONS

The PRAGMATIC AS survey offers a snapshot of the contemporary management of patients with symptomatic severe AS. Multidisciplinary Heart Teams select an optimal strategy based on age, frailty and comorbidities. Nearly half of all patients are sent for TAVI. Only a small minority of patients will not receive valve replacement therapy.

Therapeutic alternatives after aborted sternotomy at the time of surgical aortic valve replacement in the TAVI Era-Five centre experience and systematic review

BACKGROUND

We aimed to analyze causes, management, and outcomes of the unexpected need to abort sternotomy in aortic stenosis (AS) patients accepted for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in the transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) era.

METHODS

Cases of aborted sternotomy (AbS) were gathered from 5 centers between 2009 and 2014. A systematic review of all published cases in the same period was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 31 patients (71% males, 74±8years, LogEuroSCORE 11.9±7.4%) suffered an AbS (0.19% of all sternotomies). Main reasons for Abs included previously unknown porcelain aorta (PAo) in 83.9%, mediastinal fibrosis due to radiotherapy in 12.9%, and chronic mediastinitis in 3.2%. Median time between AbS and next intervention was 2.3months (IQR: 0.7-5.8) with no mortality within this period. Only a case was managed with open surgery. In 30 patients (96.8%) TAVI was performed with a rate of success of 86.7%. Three patients (9.7%) presented in-hospital death and 17 (54.8%) had in-hospital complications including heart failure (9.6%), major bleeding (6.9%), and acute kidney injury (9.6%). Older patients (76±8 vs. 70±8years, p=0.045), previous cardiac surgery (60% vs. 15.4%, p=0.029), and shorter time from AbS to next intervention (5.1±5 vs. 1±0.7months, p=0.001) were related to higher six-month mortality (22.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

The main reason for AbS was PAo. This entity was associated to a higher rate of complications and mortality, especially in older patients and with prior cardiac surgery. A preventive strategy in these subgroups might be based on imaging evaluation. TAVI was the most extended therapy.

Update on interventional cardiology 2013

The present article reviews the most important publications and studies in the field of interventional cardiology in 2013. Coronary interventions for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction are among the most important, with studies that assess different devices and pharmacologic and mechanical strategies in primary angioplasty. Increasingly large groups of patients (with diabetes, of advanced age) and the best coronary revascularization strategy are also the focus of exhaustive research. Percutaneous procedures in the left main coronary artery continue to give rise to a significant number of publications, both because of the results of using different types of stent and because of the intravascular imaging techniques used to guide procedures and the results of their use. New bioabsorbable polymer-coated drug-eluting stents or bioresorbable drug-eluting scaffolds are being compared with second-generation drug-eluting stents to show their efficacy in preventing restenosis and reducing incidence of late thrombosis. Percutaneous treatment of structural heart disease continues to produce many publications, especially regarding percutaneous aortic prostheses, but also on closure of foramen ovale and of left atrial appendage. Finally, renal denervation continues to arouse much interest in the medical literature.