Recent valves used for transluminal implantation in patients with aortic valve stenosis.

ABSTRACT

Aortic valve stenosis is becoming a burden to society due to the constantly aging population. After the onset of the first symptoms it usually follows an ominous route with high mortality levels even at two years without any medical intervention. The gold standard for treating aortic valve stenosis is surgical replacement; nonetheless, 30% of patients are left untreated due to increased risk of surgery. A less invasive method has been developed in the past decade, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), which allows implantation of prosthesis in the native stenosed aortic valve position, using a catheter that enters the body in a transvascular way or through a minimal surgical cut down. In this review, we briefly discuss where the TAVI field begun, focus on the recent valves that are being used and finally look at what lies ahead. The review of the patents will assist in the understanding of how this field evolved, how it became established and what is to be expected in the future.