Opening and Closing in Tandem.

This interest relates to the overlapping Venn diagrams that demonstrate substantial intersection between these 2 diseases. AS increases with increasing age; although its morbidity and mortality have been documented since seminal work in the 1950s and 1960s (2), within the past 15 years, interest has grown exponentially. This growth is based on factors including, among others, the following: 1) up to approximately 30% of patients with severe AS did not receive guideline-based surgical aortic valve replacement; and 2) transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been developed, tested, applied in approximately 250,000 patients and procedures worldwide since its introduction in 2002 (3). The dramatic growth in TAVR was based initially on its application in patients believed to be either high risk or inoperable for surgical aortic valve replacement. These high-risk features include advanced age and multiple comorbidities, the latter of which often make long-term anticoagulation (AC) problematic. The goals of TAVR in this population