[Catheter-based closure of paravalvular leaks: "Plug the hole"]. / Interventionelle Therapieoptionen paravalvulärer Leckagen : "Plug the hole".

Paravalvular leak (PVL) is a relatively rare, but serious complication occurring in up to 10% of patients after prosthetic aortic valve replacement and in up to 17% of patients after prosthetic mitral valve replacement. Up to 5% of patients will present with symptoms of congestive heart failure or mechanical haemolytic anaemia due to PVL and need further surgical or interventional treatment. Surgical repair is often technically challenging and carries a high mortality and morbidity risk. Catheter-based closure of PVL has emerged as an alternative approach especially for patients with relevant comorbidities at high surgical risk. Interventional closure of PVL is a complex procedure, which needs to be performed by an experienced team of interventional cardiologist, echocardiographer and anesthesiologist. To date available clinical results are promising showing low complication rates and high technical or clinical success rates of catheter-based closure of PVL (60-90%). Compared to surgical closure of PVL lower mortality rates (30-days mortality rate: 4,6%) have been documented in patients treated by catheter-based closure of PVL in clinical practice. Therefore interventional closure seems to be a promising option, which need to be discussed with every symptomatic patient suffering from PVL prior to therapeutical decision making. To date only sparse clinical data is available regarding indication and clinical outcome of patients undergoing catheter-based PVL in clinical practice. Therefore interventional closure of PVL should be limited to experienced interventional cardiologist at present. All patients treated should further be enrolled into a clinical registry to evaluate the safety and efficacy of catheter-based closure of PVL in clinical practice.

[Current status of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis]. / Perkutane Aortenklappenimplantation (TAVI) zur Behandlung schwerer symptomatischer Aortenklappenstenosen: aktueller Stand.

Percutaneous trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been established as an alternative to surgical valve replacement in surgical high-risk patients. TAVI is also considered the treatment of choice for symptomatic with severe aortic stenosis who are judged to be in-operable. In current practice in Germany more than one third of all aortic valve replacement interventions are performed as a TAVI procedure. It is of crucial importance that proper selection of patients as well as the treatment modality is performed by a so called "heart team", consisting of at least a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon.

[Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)TAVI): A new therapeutic option for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are not suitable or at high risk for surgical valve replacement]. / Perkutane Aortenklappenimplantation (TAVI): Neue Therapieoption für inoperable oder Hochrisikopatienten mit symptomatischer Aortenklappenstenose.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a new therapeutic method for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who are at very high surgical risk or in whom there are contraindications to surgical valve replacement. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between August 2008 and December 2009, sixty such patients underwent TAVI at our hospital. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 82 +/- 6.1 years, 25 of them were men. The mean "European system for cardiac operative risk" (EuroSCORE) was 25.8 +/- 17.0%. A very high surgical risk was the indication for TAVI in 51 patients. The mean aortic valve orifice area was 0.6 +/- 0.1cm(2) and the mean transvalvular gradient 48.2 +/- 14.4 mm Hg before the intervention. The mean duration of the intervention was 62.6 +/- 19.9 minutes and the screening time 11.8 +/- 5.1 minutes. The procedure was technically successful in all but one patient. The post-interventional mean transvalvular gradient was 2.87.0 mm Hg. Significant residual aortic regurgitation (more than grade 3) was present in six patients but was reduced by the catheter-based "snare" technique in most cases. Mean hospital stay was 15.4 +/- 18.9 days. A permanent pacemaker was implanted in 22 of the patients. Eight patients died during the hospital stay, most of them for reasons not directly related to the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: TAVI is becoming a new therapeutic method for elderly patients with severe co-morbidities and severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. Complications of TAVI are not trivial and their management by catheter techniques is challenging. In consequence the selection of patients and of suitably experienced hospitals is crucial for the further development of this promising new technique.

Comparison of different cardiac markers in monitoring percutaneous coronary interventions with frequent use of stents and gpIIbIIIa-antagonists.

Studies from the early 1990s found elevations of creatine kinase (CK) and its isoform CK-MB in 5-30% of patients after PCI, indicating minor myocardial damage. Less is known about the influence of modern improved PCI-techniques on the frequency of elevated cardiac markers and the correlation between different commonly used markers, especially cardiac troponins. From 1997 to 2001, 1486 patients undergoing PCI during the regular working hours were included in the prospective "Ludwigshafen Infarctlet Registry". Myocardial infarction in the past 48 hours was an exclusion criterion. Clinical and procedural data were documented. Follow-up data were obtained from discharge up to one year. PCI-related elevations of troponin T were found in 18%, of total-CK in 11%, of CK-MB in 33% and of myoglobin in 23% of cases. The correlation between the different markers was poor. Compared with troponin T, other markers showed low sensitivity (total-CK 58%, CK-MB 27%, myoglobin 22%) and, especially total-CK, low specificity. Stenting, side branch occlusion or major dissection, complex lesion morphology, gpIIbIIIa-antagonist application, proximal stenosis and unstable angina were independent predictors of an elevated troponin T in multivariate analysis. Due to this weak correlation between more specific and sensitive troponins and the other markers, troponins are preferred in monitoring after PCI. In addition to lesion characteristics, particularly stenting is associated with an increased rate of elevated troponin.