Aortic Stenosis and Coronary Artery Disease: Decision-Making Between Surgical and Transcatheter Management.

Aortic stenosis (AS) and coronary artery disease (CAD) frequently coexist and share pathophysiological mechanisms. The proportion of patients with AS and CAD requiring revascularization varies widely because of uncertainty about best clinical practices. Although combined surgical aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting has been the standard of care, management options in patients with AS and CAD requiring revascularization have expanded with the advent of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Five-year outcomes with self-expanding versus balloon-expandable TAVI in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Background: The importance of transcatheter heart valve (THV) design on clinical outcome in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) and left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction remains unknown.

Objectives: We aimed to compare 5-year outcomes of patients with severe AS and reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF), undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with balloon-expandable vs. self-expanding THVs.

Surgical techniques for cardiac procurement, preparation and perfusion using the Organ Care System.

We provide an audio-visual step-by-step guide to the preparation of a donor heart for the application of normothermic, ex situ cardiac perfusion on the TransMedics Organ Care System using a heart donated after brain death. The use of the Organ Care System increases heart transplantation activity by enabling the utilization of hearts donated after circulatory death, the use of extended criteria grafts and the extension of out-of-body time, which can help overcome geographic or surgical barriers. Ex situ cardiac perfusion is a new technique and is therefore not yet routinely performed in many centres.