Valve in valve implantation of the CoreValve Evolut R in degenerated surgical aortic valves.

BACKGROUND

The new CoreValve Evolut R has an improved design to minimize paravalvular leak-age and allows repositioning of the valve. For patients with degenerated bioprosthetic aortic valves, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) represents a less invasive option. Herein reported are valve-in-valve (ViV) implantations of this new valve.

METHODS

A total of 26 patients (mean age 79.4 ± 6.1 years, 17 males and 9 females) were treated for severe prosthesis stenosis (n = 9), severe regurgitation (n = 8) or severe combination of stenosis and regurgitation (n = 9). All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography before and after ViV implantation.

RESULTS

Valve-in-valve implantation of a CoreValve Evolut R was performed successfully in all pa-tients. The mean transaortic gradient for stenotic valves determined by transthoracic echocardiography was reduced significantly from 37.5 ± 15.3 mmHg in patients with prosthesis stenosis to 16.3 ± 8.2 mmHg (p < 0.001). In all cases with severe prosthesis regurgitation, regurgitation was reduced to none or mild. All-cause mortality after 30 days was 0%.

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that CoreValve Evolut R is well suited for ViV implantation.