Transcatheter aortic valve implantation: first Greek experience

Percutaneous aortic valve replacement represents an alternative to conventional open-heart surgery for selected high-risk patients without the need for sternotomy, aortotomy, or cardiopulmonary bypass. We present the first Greek series of transcatheter prosthetic aortic valve implantation procedures, performed in our centre.

All 12 patients (age 81 +/- 5 years) had severe, symptomatic, calcific aortic stenosis and were judged not to have a reasonable surgical option by a medical team including experienced cardiac surgeons. The patients' mean logistic EuroSCORE was 34 +/- 15% (min 11%, max 61%). Eight (8) of them underwent transfemoral (SAPIEN, Edwards 23 mm valve in 7 and 26 mm in 1 patient) and 4 transapical (26 mm in 2 and 23 mm in 2 patients) prosthetic aortic valve implantation, all in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory under general anaesthesia.

The procedural, in-hospital and 2-month (mean follow up 50 days, min 17, max 122 days) mortality was 0%. The length of hospital stay was 8 +/- 2 days (min 5, max 12 days). The aortic valve area increased from 0.64 +/- 0.14 cm2 to 1.83 +/- 0.14 cm2 and the mean pressure gradient decreased from 57 +/- 23 mmHg to 10 +/- 3 mmHg post-implantation (p<0.001 for both). The patients' mean NYHA functional status improved from 2.8 +/- 0.7 to 1.3 +/- 0.5 at follow-up (p<0.001).

Our initial experience with transcatheter prosthetic aortic valve implantation demonstrates that it can be performed safely and with excellent short and mid-term clinical outcomes.