Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Technical Success Remains the Priority

Introduction

The extraordinary rapid development of newer transcatheter aortic valves platforms incorporating lower profiles, enhanced deliverability and external skirts, along with increased operators’ experience and improved preprocedural screening, have made transcatheter aortic valve (TAV) replacement (TAVR) a highly streamlined and standardized procedure.¹ The fil rouge of this 20-year endeavor has been to seek the best possible acute results, because it was always assumed that these would guarantee the best long-term outcomes for the patients. This perception found confirmation in many seminal studies in the field, which showed that the vast majority of TAVR-related complications, including significant aortic regurgitation,² aortic rupture,³ valve embolization,⁴ vascular complications,⁵ and many others, had a detrimental impact on post-procedural patients’ prognosis.