Transcutaneous aortic valve implantation using the axillary/subclavian access: feasibility and early clinical outcomes.

Objective: Retrograde transfemoral artery catheterization is the most common way of implanting a percutaneous aortic valve. But in some cases, this access cannot be used and the subclavian artery access may represent an alternative to the femoral route, even offering certain advantages. This article describes prosthetic aortic valve implantation using the subclavian arterial approach and reports the findings.

Methods: The valve prosthesis is a self-expandable, nitinol-based device (CoreValve; Medtronic Inc. Minneapolis, Minn). The axillary or subclavian artery was exposed with a small incision. Rapid ventricular pacing was used to reduce cardiac output while a routine aortic balloon valvuloplasty was performed. Then, an 18F sheath was inserted into the axillary artery down into the ascending aorta. By using this method, a prosthesis was implanted in 17 patients (aged 71±11 years) whose surgical risk was deemed excessive because of severe comorbidity and in whom transfemoral catheterization was considered unfeasible or at risk of severe complications.

Results: Subclavian arterial injury did not occur in any patient. The postprocedural aortic valve area increased from 0.6±0.3 cm2 to 1.44±0.35 cm2. A transient ischemic attack occurred in 1 patient. Two patients experienced transitory brachial plexus deficit. There were no intraprocedural deaths. Two deaths occurred in the 30-day follow-up period.

Conclusions: This initial experience suggests that subclavian transarterial aortic valve implantation, in selected high-risk patients, is feasible and safe with satisfactory short-term outcomes.