The international journal of cardiovascular imaging
-
Int J Cardiovasc Imaging · Jan 2012
Acute improvement in arterial-ventricular coupling after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (CoreValve) in patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis.
The recent development of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) to treat severe aortic stenosis (AS) offers a viable option for high-risk patients categories. Our aim is to evaluate the early effects of implantation of CoreValve aortic valve prosthesis on arterial-ventricular coupling by two dimensional echocardiography. Sixty five patients with severe AS performed 2D conventional echocardiography before, immediately after TAVI, at discharge (mean age: 82.6 ± 5.9 years; female: 60%). ⋯ With regard to left ventricular (LV) efficiency, we observed, after the procedure, a significant reduction of stroke work (P < 0.001) and potential energy (P < 0.001), with a significant increase of work efficiency early after the procedure (P < 0.001). Our results showed that the TAVI procedure was able to determine an early improvement of the global left ventricular hemodynamic load, allowing a better global LV performance. Further follow-up investigations are needed to evaluate these results in a more prolonged time observation.