Percutaneous implantation of the first repositionable aortic valve prosthesis in a patient with severe aortic stenosis.

OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND

Percutaneous aortic valve replacement is a new less-invasive alternative for high-risk surgical candidates with aortic stenosis. However, the clinical experience is still limited, and the currently available 'first-generation devices' revealed technical shortcomings, such as lack of repositionability and presence of paravalvular leakages. We report the first-in-man experience with the new self-expanding Lotus Valve prosthesis composed of a nitinol frame with implemented bovine pericardial leaflets which is designed to address these issues, being repositionable and covered by a flexible membrane to seal paravalvular gaps. We implanted this prosthesis in a 93-year old patient presenting with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (valve area: 0.6 cm(2)). Surgical valve replacement had been declined due to comorbidities.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We used a retrograde approach for insertion of the 21-French Lotus catheter loaded with the valve prosthesis via surgical cut-down to the external iliac artery. Positioning of the valve was guided by transesophageal echo and supra-aortic angiograms. The prosthesis was successfully inserted and deployed within the calcified native valve. Echocardiography immediately after device deployment showed a significant reduction of the transaortic mean pressure gradient (32 to 9 mmHg; final valve area 1.7 cm(2)) without evidence of residual aortic regurgitation. The postprocedural clinical status improved from NYHA-IV to NYHA-II. These results remained unchanged up to the 3 month follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Successful percutaneous aortic valve replacement can be performed using the new self-expanding and repositionable Lotus valve for treatment of high-risk patients with aortic valve stenosis. Further studies are mandatory to assess device safety and efficacy in larger patient populations.