Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been confirmed to be safety and efficacy for high-risk elderly aortic stenosis, and the clinical effect of TAVR for medium and low-risk aortic stenosis is not worse than that of surgery. The development of surgical techniques and instruments has made cardiologists attempt to broaden the surgical indications. Many elderly and high-risk patients with pure native aortic regurgitation have been treated “off label” with similar techniques, completing artificial valve replacement, restoring valve function and improving the prognosis. However, due to the high requirements of surgical techniques and surgical complications, there is a lack of randomized controlled studies to confirm its safety and effectiveness. Unlike aortic stenosis, native aortic regurgitation presents unique challenges for transcatheter valves. In this article, the authors review current advances in the treatment of aortic valve regurgitation with TAVR.
Pure native aortic valve regurgitation (NAVR) is one of the common heart valve diseases, and the prognosis of symptomatic chronic NAVR is poor. Although transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is currently an "off-label" procedure, it remains the option for patients with high risk for surgery. In this case, an 81-year-old man with multiple comorbidity and high Society of Thoracic Surgeons score, the risk for surgery is rather high. Through the preoperative evaluation by the multidisciplinary heart team, considering that the patient had calcification at the junction of annulus, as well as mild aortic stenosis, after careful consideration, 29# Venus A-Valve was chosen. After the procedure, the symptoms were obviously improved and the follow-up effect was good. Due to various causes of NAVR, great anatomical variation of annulus, little calcification of aortic valve, and lack of anchor point and other problems, the procedure to treat NAVR with TAVR is still difficult. At the same time, there are few valve systems developed for the anatomical characteristics of aortic regurgitation valve. TAVR in the treatment of patients with high risk for surgery still requires long-term practice and technical development.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for aortic stenosis has been confirmed to be safe and efficient, and its status has gradually increased with the continuous updating of guidelines. But for severe pure aortic valve regurgitation, it has long been considered a relative contraindication to TAVR. However, many elderly, high-risk patients with pure aortic regurgitation have also been treated with TAVR and prognosis was improved through off-label use of transcatheter heart valves due to contraindications to surgery or intolerance. But because of the complexity and challenging anatomic features, high technical requirements, limited device success rate, high rate of complications, and lack of randomized controlled studies to confirm its safety and efficacy, TAVR treatment of pure aortic regurgitation has been evolving in a debate. In recent years, with the application of new-generation valves and an increasing number of studies, some new insights have been gained regarding TAVR for severe aortic regurgitation, and this article will review the progress of research on TAVR for severe pure aortic regurgitation.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for native aortic valve regurgitation. MethodsLiterature from The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov and China Biomedical Literature Database from January 2002 to May 2021 were searched by computer. The literature on TAVI or transcatheter aortic valve replacement treatment for simple aortic reflux were collected. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the literature. Meta-analysis was performed using STATA 14.0 software. ResultsA total of 15 studies including 1 394 patients were included. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scales of the studies were≥6 points. The success rate of prosthetic valve implantation was 72.0%-100.0%, and there was no report of serious complications such as surgical death, myocardial infarction, and valve annulus rupture. The 30-day all-cause mortality rate was 6.3% [95%CI (3.4%, 9.1%)]. The incidence of stroke within 30 days and the rate of postoperative permanent pacemaker implantation were 2.0% [95%CI (1.0%, 4.0%)] and 6.0% [95%CI (4.0%, 10.0%)], respectively, and were both within acceptable limits. ConclusionFor patients with simple high-risk aortic regurgitation, TAVI can obtain satisfactory treatment effects and has low postoperative complications rate, and it may be a potential treatment option for such patients.
The technique of transcatheter aortic valve implantation has become increasingly mature. Although the transapical approach has a certain degree of minimally invasive trauma, it still has the characteristics such as heart beating without cardiopulmonary bypass, and the low technical requirements of catheter guide wire. In particular, the valve path is short and coaxial, which is easy to manipulate, and pure regurgitation and stenosis can be easily operated and are not subject to the limit of peripheral artery stenosis. It is still one of China's main approaches for transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Its perioperative management still has specific features and differs from the femoral artery approach. In addition, there is little relevant literature abroad. Therefore, domestic experts in this field were organized to discuss the development of perioperative management specifications to provide reference and techniques support for developing this field in China and further improve the quality of clinical operation and perioperative management. It will provide more safe and more effective medical services to these patients.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement has revolutionized the management of aortic stenosis and become the gold standard for the treatment of symptomatic and severe aortic valve stenosis in elderly patients. With the improvement in design and materials, newer generation transcatheter aortic valve prostheses had overcome the limitations of early-generation devices that were susceptible to paravalvular leak, atrioventricular block and vascular complications, to a certain extent. This review provides an update on the latest advances in transcatheter aortic valve prostheses.