BACKGROUND: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been used in our country and in several different countries worldwide as an alternative to conservative treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis and high surgical risk. This paper aimed at describing the baseline clinical profile and the short and medium-term mortality of a consecutive series of cases treated with TAVI in two centers in Italy and Brazil, respectively. METHODS: The study population included the first 75 consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis treated with the Medtronic CoreValveTM Revalving System (MCV - Medtronic, Minneapolis, USA). Typically, the indication for TAVI was motivated by high surgical risk. Mean age was 82 years, 55% were females, a third had severe lung disease, and 95% had symptomatic heart failure. RESULTS: TAVI was associated with a significant reduction of peak (baseline: 95.8 ± 32.3 mmHg; post-procedure: 18.5 ± 6.1 mmHg) and mean (baseline: 45.9 ± 16.9 mmHg; post-procedure: 10.4 ± 5.2 mmHg) transaortic gradient (P < 0.01 for both). Moderate or severe aortic insufficiency was observed in 7% of the cases. The overall survival rate at 30 days was 91.6% and at 12 months it was 79% CONCLUSIONS: TAVI emerges as an important therapeutic option for high risk patients with aortic stenosis. The short and medium-term survival rates suggest that the new procedure might be of benefit for patients treated in the real world context.
Aortic valve stenosis; Catheterization; Heart valve prosthesis; Heart valve prosthesis implantation
