• Giovanni Ciccarelli, Francesca Renon, Renato Bianchi, Donato Tartaglione, Cappelli BigazziMaurizioMVanvitelli Cardiology Unit, Monaldi Hospital, 80131 Naples, Italy., Francesco Loffredo, Paolo Golino, and Giovanni Cimmino.
• Vanvitelli Cardiology Unit, Monaldi Hospital, 80131 Naples, Italy.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2021 Dec 28; 58 (1).

AbstractAdvancements in clinical management, pharmacological therapy and interventional procedures have strongly improved the survival rate for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Nevertheless, the patients affected by CVDs are more often elderly and present several comorbidities such as atrial fibrillation, valvular heart disease, heart failure, and chronic coronary syndrome. Standard treatments are frequently not available for "frail patients", in particular due to high surgical risk or drug interaction. In the past decades, novel less-invasive procedures such as transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), MitraClip or left atrial appendage occlusion have been proposed to treat CVD patients who are not candidates for standard procedures. These procedures have been confirmed to be effective and safe compared to conventional surgery, and symptomatic thromboembolic stroke represents a rare complication. However, while the peri-procedural risk of symptomatic stroke is low, several studies highlight the presence of a high number of silent ischemic brain lesions occurring mainly in areas with a low clinical impact. The silent brain damage could cause neuropsychological deficits or worse, a preexisting dementia, suggesting the need to systematically evaluate the impact of these procedures on neurological function.

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