Recently patented and widely used valves for transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Aortic stenosis (AS) is a serious condition in the aging US and European populations. Management of a stenotic valve is crucial as it can become symptomatic quickly leading to ventricular deterioration and overall poor quality of life. Considering that AS is a disease of the elderly patient population, surgical intervention may not be well tolerated by some patients. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has emerged as an alternative approach for patients who are unsuitable surgical candidates. Since the first balloon-expandable Edwards SAPIEN valve (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) was implanted by Dr. Cribier, many other valves have been introduced into clinical practice. Self-expanding valves such as the CoreValve ReValving system (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) for retrograde implantation and Symetis TX for antegrade and transapical implantation are the most frequently used self-expanding valves. The SAPIEN valve, on the other hand can be implanted both antegrade as well as retrograde. Overall, the most widely used valves are the Edwards SAPIEN and the CoreValve, which have been implanted in more than 40,000 patients worldwide. The Symetis valve has shown promising results in small series in Europe and may be introduced to the US market in the near future. This manuscript will review these 3 recently patented valves and discuss some of the clinical results that are available.