[Percutaneous aortic valve implantation: results and perspectives]

As the French population is aging, a growing number of elderly patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis are going to require therapeutic management. Approximately 30 to 40% of these patients do not undergo surgical treatment and a high proportion is considered to be at high risk for surgery. The transluminal aortic valve implantation technique has been increasingly used over the past few years, thus providing a solution to a major therapeutic issue in our industrialized countries. While the cardiology community was rapidly convinced of its efficacy, remaining doubts regarding the outcome of this technique in terms of mortality were erased by the recent publication of results achieved in cohort B of the Partner US trial. This new approach is clearly here to stay and should soon reach a maturity phase with respect to its indications, the selection of patients and technical aspects.