Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 6, 2026
Upper-extremity Approach for Secondary Access in Transfemoral Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation
Published on: August 8, 2025
Intraaortic Protection From Embolization in Patients Undergoing Transaortic Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation
Daniel Wendt1, Petra Kleinbongard2, Stephan Knipp1
1Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, West-German Heart and Vascular Center Essen, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany.
Purpose:
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) results in the dislodgement of debris with risk of cerebral lesions or stroke. The EMBOL-X protection device (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) is positioned within the ascending aorta to capture such debris.
Description:
Between July 2012 and April 2014 we randomly assigned 30 high-risk patients to undergo transaortic TAVI with the SAPIEN XT prosthesis (Edwards Lifesciences) combined with either the EMBOL-X device (group-1, n = 14) or without (group-2, n = 16). Periprocedural cerebral lesions were assessed by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) at baseline and within 7 days post-procedurally.
Evaluation:
New foci of restricted diffusion on cerebral DW-MRI were found in 69% in group-2 and 50% in group-1. Lesion size was smaller in patients treated with the EMBOL-X device than in those without (88 ± 60 vs 168 ± 217 mm(3), p = 0.27, t = 1.2, degrees of freedom = 10). Transaortic TAVI patients treated with the EMBOL-X device had significantly smaller lesion volumes in the supply region of the middle cerebral artery (33 ± 29 vs 76 ± 67 mm(3), p = 0.04). There were no neurologic events after transaortic TAVI.
Conclusions:
The intraaortic protection device seems to reduce both the incidence and the volume of new cerebral lesions (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01735513).
