Use of Internal Endoconduit for Unfavorable Iliac Artery Anatomy in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement - A Single Center Experience.

BACKGROUND: Transfemoral (TF) access is associated with lower rates of surgical conversion and mortality compared with non-TF access for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Therefore, efforts should be made to make this procedure even less invasive, allowing more TAVR procedures to be performed through femoral access. We herein describe our single-center experience of using one-stage percutaneous internal endoconduits for TAVR in patients with unfavorable iliac artery anatomy. METHODS: Between March 2013 andMarch 2016, 113 consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis at high risk for conventional cardiac surgery underwent TAVR at the Cheng Hsin General Hospital. The patients can be divided into Cohort A (March 2013-December 2014) and Cohort B (January 2015-March 2016). RESULTS: In the Cohort A, 6 out of the 53 (11.4%) with unfavorable iliac artery anatomy were treated by trans-subclavian approach (n = 3, 5.7%) or direct aortic approach (n = 3, 5.7%); while in the Cohort B, none (0%) of the 5 patients with unfavorable iliac artery anatomy among 60 consecutive TAVR cases needed non-TF approach (Cohort A vs. Cohort B = 11.4% vs. 0%, p = 0.024) and they were all successfully treated with the use of an internal endoconduit. CONCLUSIONS: The use of internal endoconduits can further increase the number of patients who can be treated through femoral artery access for TAVR and substantially reduce the need of non-TF approaches.

Simultaneous rota-stenting and transcatheter aortic valve implantation for patients with heavily calcified coronary stenosis and aortic stenosis.

Given that coronary artery disease (CAD) in octogenarians undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) often presents with more complex lesions and extensive calcification, rotational atherectomy (RA) may be needed in some cases before stenting. However, data regarding the feasibility and safety of simultaneous RA during TAVI using the Medtronic CoreValve (MCV; Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA) system are lacking. Three out of 107 (2.8%) patients (2 females, average age 85.6 years, mean aortic valve area 0.5 cm(2), mean left ventricular ejection fraction 39%, mean Logistic EuroScore 70%), with complex, heavily calcified coronary stenosis, and severe valvular aortic stenosis (AS) were treated with TAVI and RA due to high surgical risk. After balloon valvuloplasty, all coronary lesions were successfully treated with RA and stenting, immediately followed by transfemoral TAVI with a self-expandable MCV. Our data suggested that in the very elderly patients with severe and heavily calcified CAD and AS who were turned down for cardiac surgery, RA and stenting followed by TAVI may be performed successfully in a combined, single-stage procedure.

Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defect with Attenuated Anterior Rim after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation: Can It Be Carried out as a Single Procedure?

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as a highly effective minimally invasive treatment for symptomatically critical aortic stenosis (AS) in patients at high or prohibitive surgical risk. We report a case of staged transcatheter management of critical AS combined with an atrial septal defect (ASD) with attenuated anterior superior rim. The clinical result of this case suggests that both procedures can be safely performed simultaneously. Therefore, combined transcatheter treatment may appear as a possible strategy in patients with concomitant cardiac conditions.

Percutaneous transcatheter closure of mitral paravalvular leak via transarterial retrograde approach.

Repeat surgery has usually been considered the first choice to solve paravalvular leaks of prosthetic valves, but it carries a high operative risk, a high mortality rate and an increased risk for re-leaks. Percutaneous closure of such defects is possible, and different approaches and devices are used for this purpose. For mitral paravalvular leaks, constructing an arterio-venous wire loop for delivering the closure device through an antegrade approach is the most commonly used technique. Transcatheter closure can also be performed through a transapical approach or retrograde transfemoral arterial approach. We present a case of 68-year-old man with a mitral paravalvular leak that was successfully closed using an Amplatzer(®) Duct Occluder II, via retrograde transfemoral arterial approach under three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiographic guidance, without the use of a wire loop. The initial attempt to cross the paravalvular defect was unsuccessful, but the obstacle was finally overcome by introducing complex interventional techniques.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in a Woman with Porcelain Aorta, Previous Sternotomy for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, and Critical Aortic Stenosis.

UNLABELLED: A 74-year-old woman who was diagnosed with right breast cancer at age 39 had been treated with mastectomy, and repeated cycles of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She also had a history of coronary artery disease, wherein two coronary artery bypass grafts were performed 3 years ago. At that time, porcelain aorta was detected during surgery. In the year prior to admission, the patient presented with severe symptomatic critical aortic stenosis. Due to the prohibitively high surgical risk and need for aortic valve replacement, she underwent successful transcatheter aortic valve implantation with transfemoral implantation of a 29 mm Medtronic CoreValve prosthesis. The patient experienced a good result with reduction of the transaortic gradient and mild residual aortic regurgitation. KEY WORDS: Aortic stenosis; Coronary artery bypass grafting; Porcelain aorta; Radiation; Transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

Transcatheter intervention for complex ascending aortic pseudoaneurysm after cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Ascending aortic pseudoaneurysm (PsA) is an uncommon but surgically challenging problem with high morbidity and mortality. Herein we describe the efficacy and safety of the different approaches to transcatheter intervention for repair of ascending PsA and assess the selection of occluder devices using real-time 3-dimensional (RT 3D) color Doppler transesophageal echocardiography (TEE).METHODS AND RESULTS: Three patients with complex ascending PsA after cardiac or aortic root surgery were treated with transcatheter intervention due to high risk for redo surgery. Perioperative RT 3D-TEE combined with fluoroscopy was used for monitoring. All ascending PsA were successfully occluded with different devices using the transcatheter technique either with the transapical, transarterial approach, or transvenous combined with hybrid process depending on lesion anatomy. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of complex ascending PsA with transcatheter or combined hybrid intervention with cautious planning based on patient presentation and well-coordinated teamwork was successful. RT 3D color Doppler TEE provided precise information for the selection of appropriate occluder device, and also facilitated the procedure by guiding the catheter through difficult anatomy.