Bacterial translocation and plasma cytokines during transcatheter and open-heart aortic valve implantation.

Objective: To determine whether the good safety profile of transarterial aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is related to lower levels of systemic bacterial translocation and systemic inflammation compared with open-heart surgery.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation via the transfemoral approach is increasingly used in very high-risk patients with aortic stenosis. The outcomes seem similar to those after open-heart aortic valve replacement (OHAVR).

Percutaneous aortic valve replacement: new hope for inoperable and high-risk patients.

Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease in the Western world and its prevalence is increasing with an aging population. Although medical therapy has little to offer in terms of prognosis or symptomatic relief, at least one-third of patients with severe aortic stenosis are denied valve surgery as a result of age and comorbidities. This review describes the development of the percutaneous aortic valve as an alternative therapy for such patients.