Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common primary valve lesion requiring surgery or transcatheter intervention in modern era. Its prevalence is rising rapidly as a consequence of the aging population. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as a therapy option for older high-risk symptomatic severe AS patients has emerged and is currently extending its indications towards surgery intermediate- and low-risk subjects. Considering the common characteristics of frailty and high comorbidity among AS patients, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has been proven to improve not only survival but also quality of life in previous reports. CR as a classⅠ recommendation in guidelines for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease has been widely used in clinical practice. The purpose of this article is to sort out the current CR programs for TAVR patients in global medical management, and explore the CR optimization program fit for China medical model in post COVID-19 pandemic era.
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) is the best treatment for severe aortic stenosis with high surgical risk, and low body weight significantly increased the risk of surgery and postoperative all-cause mortality. A case of elderly female diagnosed with severe aortic valve stenosis and extremely low body weight was presented in this article. Additionally, horizocardia and low located coronary orifice were also found in this patient, which markedly increased the risk and complexity of the TAVR procedure. During the operation, circulatory collapse occurred, and prosthetic valve was quickly released under emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The operation was successful and the patient’s vital signs recovered soon. The follow-up showed that the patient was in good condition.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) at different stages on prognosis of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).MethodsDatabases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) were searched by computer to collect cohort studies on impact of different stages of CKD on prognosis of TAVR from inception to July 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies, and then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 15.0 software. Risk of study bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS).ResultsA total of 17 cohort studies were included with NOS score≥6 points. The results of meta-analysis indicated that: compared with the patients without CKD, all-cause mortality of CKD stage 3 patients at 30 day (RR=1.29, 95%CI 1.22-1.37, P<0.001) and 1 year (RR=1.24, 95%CI 1.19-1.28, P<0.001), all-cause mortality of CKD stage 4 patients at 30 day (RR=2.10, 95%CI 1.90-2.31, P<0.001) and 1 year (RR=1.89, 95%CI 1.62-2.19, P<0.001), and all-cause mortality of CKD stage 5 patients at 30 day (RR=2.22, 95%CI 1.62-2.19, P<0.001) and 1 year (RR=2.24, 95%CI 1.75-2.87, P<0.001) were significantly increased and were associated with the severity of CKD. The occurrence rates of 1-year cardiovascular mortality, postoperative acute kidney injury and bleeding events were all higher in patients with CKD.ConclusionCKD at stages 3, 4 and 5 is associated with increased all-cause mortality after TAVR, and the higher the stage of CKD is, the higher the risk of all-cause mortality at 30-day and 1-year follow-up is. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
As the indications for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) expand, multi-valve lesions are becoming more common in clinical practice. Moderate to severe atrioventricular regurgitation, particularly when persistent after TAVR, significantly increases the risk of adverse events. Therefore, many studies have evaluated factors that contribute to the improvement of atrioventricular regurgitation. However, this field remains controversial due to the heterogeneity of retrospective studies and the lack of randomized controlled trials. Despite advances in atrioventricular valve intervention techniques, evidence for atrioventricular regurgitation intervention after TAVR is still scarce. The management decision for atrioventricular regurgitation in patients who underwent TAVR is complex and must take into account the severity of valve disease, anatomical characteristics, quality of life, and procedural complexity. We conducted a review of atrioventricular regurgitation in patients who have received TAVR in hope that it will help decision-making in clinical practice.
ObjectiveTo investigate the feasibility and safety of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) through apical approach for aortic regurgitation of large annulus.MethodsFrom November 2019 to May 2020, 10 male patients aged 64.50±4.20 years with aortic valve insufficiency (AI) underwent TAVR in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Xijing Hospital. The surgical instruments were 29# J-valveTM modified and the patients underwent TAVR under angiography. The preoperative and postoperative cardiac function, valve regurgitation, complications and left ventricular remodeling were summarized by ultrasound and CT before and after TAVR.ResultsA total of 10 valves were implanted in 10 patients. Among them, 1 patient was transferred to the aortic arch during the operation and was transferred to surgical aortic valve replacement; the other 9 patients were successfully implanted with J-valve, with 6 patients of cardiac function (NYHA) class Ⅱ, 4 patients of grade Ⅲ. And there was a significant difference between preoperation and postoperation in left ventricular ejection fraction (44.70%±8.78% vs. 39.80%±8.48%, P<0.05) or aortic regurgitation (1.75±0.72 mL vs. 16.51±8.71 mL, P<0.05). After 3 months, the patients' cardiac function was good.ConclusionTAVR is safe and effective in the treatment of severe valvular disease with AI using J-valve.
ObjectiveTo assess outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for pure native aortic valve regurgitation.MethodsA total of 129 patients underwent transfemoral TAVR in Fuwai Hospital from May 2019 to October 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 83 males and 46 females with an average age of 72.26±8.97 years. The patients were divided into a pure native aortic valve regurgitation group (17 patients) and an aortic valve stenosis group (112 patients).ResultsThe incidence of valve in valve was higher in the pure native aortic valve regurgitation group (47.0% vs. 16.1%, P<0.01). There was no statistical difference between the two groups in conversion to surgery, intraoperative use of extracorporeal circulation, intraoperative left ventricular rupture, postoperative use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), peripheral vascular complications, disabled stroke, death, or pacemaker implantation. There was no statistical difference in the diameter of annulus (25.75±2.21 mm vs. 24.70±2.90 mm, P=0.068) or diameter of outflow tract (25.82±3.75 mm vs. 25.37±3.92 mm, P=0.514) between the pure native aortic valve regurgitation group and the aortic valve stenosis group.ConclusionTransfemoral TAVR is a feasible method for patients with pure native aortic valve regurgitation. The diameter of annulus plane, the diameter of outflow tract and the shape of outflow tract should be evaluated.
Coronary artery obstruction is a rare but fatal complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Although there is no accepted criteria to fully evaluate the occurrence of coronary artery obstruction, studies have revealed many important risk factors, and some preventive measures have also been found to reduce their occurrence. At present, transcatheter aortic valve replacement is in a stage of rapid development in China, but clinical medical workers’ knowledge of coronary artery obstruction as a complication still needs to be improved. This article discusses the incidence, risk factors, predictive assessment, prevention, treatment and prognosis of coronary artery obstruction complicated by transcatheter aortic valve replacement, so as to increase clinical medical workers’ understanding of this complication.
Objective To investigate the left ventricular reverse remodeling (LVRR) in patients with aortic valve insufficiency with reduced ejection fraction (AIrEF) and aortic valve insufficiency with preserved ejection fraction (AIpEF) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). MethodsThe clinical and follow-up data of patients who underwent TAVR in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from 2018 to 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the guideline, the patients with left ventricular ejection fraction<55% were allocated to an AIrEF group, and the patients with left ventricular ejection fraction≥55% were allocated to an AIpEF group. ResultsA total of 50 patients were enrolled. There were 19 patients in the AIrEF group, including 15 males and 4 females with a mean age of 74.5±7.1 years. There were 31 patients in the AIpEF group, including 19 males and 12 females with a mean age of 72.0±4.8 years. All patients underwent TAVR successfully. Echocardiographic results showed that TAVR significantly promoted LVRR in the patients. Significant LVRR occurred in the early postoperative period (the first day after the surgery) in both groups. It remained relatively stable after the LVRR in the early postoperative period (the first day after surgery) in the AIpEF patients, while it continued to occur in the early postoperative period (the first day after surgery) to three months after the surgery in the AIrEF patients, and then remained relatively stable. Compared to preoperative values, AIrEF patients had a reduction in the average left ventricular end-diastolic volume index and left ventricular end-systolic volume index by 16.8 mL/m2 (P=0.003) and 8.6 mL/m2 (P=0.005), respectively, and the average left ventricular end-diastolic diameter index and end-systolic diameter index decreased by 2.5 mm/m2 (P=0.003) and 1.9 mm/m2 (P=0.003), respectively on the first day after the surgery. In comparison to the first day after the surgery, AIrEF patients experienced an average increase of 12.1% in the left ventricular ejection fraction three months after the surgery (P＜0.001). ConclusionTAVR has achieved good therapeutic effects in patients with aortic valve insufficiency, significantly promoting the LVRR in patients, and has better curative effects in AIrEF patients.
Pre-rehabilitation is an emerging preoperative management strategy designed to mitigate surgical stress responses and expedite postoperative recovery through optimized interventions, which typically includes exercise training, nutritional support, and psychological counseling. For patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the implementation of pre-rehabilitation measures is particularly crucial. This article reviews the necessity and principal components of pre-rehabilitation in TAVR patients, and offers suggestions including constructing the best pre-rehabilitation intervention program for TAVR, enhancing patient compliance and engagement in the recovery process, and paying attention to the management of frailty for TAVR patients. The aim is to provide a reference for healthcare professionals seeking to further refine the pre-rehabilitation management model for TAVR patients.