1. Artificial heart valves have been in use for over five decades to replace diseased heart valves. Since the first heart valve replacement performed with a caged-ball valve, more than 50 valve designs have been developed, differing principally in valve geometry, number of leaflets and material. To date, all artificial heart valves are plagued with complications associated with haemolysis, coag...

DOI: 10.5935/abc.20140060 Demographic projections have shown that the contingent of elderly people in Brazil will double within the next 20 years1, with a consequent increase in the prevalence of aging-related diseases, such as degenerative aortic valve stenosis (AoS), diagnosed in 3% to 5% of the population older than 75 yeas2,3. New modalities of treatment for AoS have been recently developed...

A 90 year-old male patient, known to have severe aortic stenosis (AS), was admitted with chest pain, shortness of breath and swelling of both lower limbs. He had history of ischemic heart disease and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of left anterior descending artery (LAD) in 2002. He also had long standing hypertension, primary hypothyroidism and hypercalcemia. He had a permanent pacem...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the need for a permanent pacemaker after transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the CoreValve prosthesis (Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota) using the new Accutrak delivery system (Medtronic, Inc.). BACKGROUND The need for a permanent pacemaker is a recognized complication after transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the C...

BACKGROUND To assess the feasibility and safety of retrograde transarterial implantation of a novel nonmetallic aortic valve prosthesis (Direct Flow Medical Inc, Santa Rosa, Calif), a prospective single-center study was performed in patients with severe aortic stenosis at high risk for open-heart surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS Fifteen patients (intention-to-treat cohort) with an aortic valve ar...

Transcutaneous aortic valve implantation has been established as an effective method for the treatment of highgrade stenosis in non-operative, high-risk conventional surgery patients. According to developed technologies, prostheses are divided into balloon-expandable (balloon-expandable valves, BEV) and self-expanding (self-expanding SEV). The two types devices have different models implantatio...

Transfemoral aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become an important interventional technique for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and very high surgical risks. Several studies have demonstrated the feasibility and clinical success of TAVI procedures.1,2 Indications of transfemoral implantations of aortic valves are clearly defined, and TAVI should only be performed in patients with s...

BACKGROUND Aortic valve replacement with cardiopulmonary bypass is currently the treatment of choice for symptomatic aortic stenosis but carries a significant risk of morbidity and mortality, particularly in patients with comorbidities. Recently, percutaneous transfemoral aortic valve implantation has been proposed as a viable alternative in selected patients. We describe our experience with a ...

METHODS The first 206 patients treated with the S3 were compared with 371 preceding patients treated with SAPIEN XT valves. Patients who previously underwent pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation or transapical and valve-in-valve procedureswere excluded from the analysis. All patientsweremonitored for at least 7 days. Previous and new conduction abnormalities were doc...

Transcatheter implantation of aortic valve prostheses is being performed with increasing frequency in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are at high surgical risk. Either a transfemoral or a transapical approach is employed. Complications related to the procedure are relatively uncommon, but they provide information that is very useful for broadening our knowledge of the patho...