Five-Year Clinical and Echocardiographic Outcomes From the NOTION Randomized Clinical Trial in Patients at Lower Surgical Risk.

Background: The NOTION trial (Nordic Aortic Valve Intervention) was designed to compare transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients ≥70 years old with isolated severe aortic valve stenosis. Clinical and echocardiographic outcomes are presented after 5 years.

Methods: Patients were enrolled at 3 Nordic centers and randomized 1:1 to TAVR using the self-expanding CoreValve prosthesis (n=145) or SAVR using any stented bioprostheses (n=135).

Recurrence of sarcoid granulomas in lung transplant recipients is common and does not affect overall survival.

Background: Sarcoidosis represents 2,5% of all indications for lung transplantation and criteria are generally assumed to be the same as for pulmonary fibrosis. Recurrence of granulomas in transplanted lungs has earlier been proved to derive from recipient immune cells, but its role in relation to lung function and overall survival after lung transplantation remains uncertain.

Objective: To identify recurrent granuloma in transbronchial biopsies in patients receiving lung transplant because of sarcoidosis, and relate the findings to overall survival and lung function.