Background: In view of the rising global burden of severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, its early recognition and treatment is key. Although patients with classical low‐flow, low‐gradient (C‐LFLG) aortic stenosis have higher rates of death after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) when compared with patients with high‐gradient (HG) aortic stenosis, there is conflicting evidence on the death rate in patients with severe paradoxical low‐flow, low‐gradient (P‐LFLG) aortic stenosis. Therefore, we aimed to compare outcomes in real‐world patients with severe HG, C‐LFLG, and P‐LFLG aortic stenosis undergoing TAVI. Methods and Results: Clinical outcomes up to 5 years were addressed in the 3 groups of patients enrolled in the prospective, national, multicenter SwissTAVI registry. A total of 8914 patients undergoing TAVI at 15 heart valve centers in Switzerland were analyzed for the purpose of this study. We observed a significant difference in time to death at 1 year after TAVI, with the lowest observed in HG (8.8%) aortic stenosis, followed by P‐LFLG (11.5%; hazard ratio [HR], 1.35 [95% CI, 1.16–1.56]; P <0.001) and C‐LFLG (19.8%; HR, 1.93 [95% CI, 1.64–2.26]; P <0.001) aortic stenosis. Cardiovascular death showed similar differences between the groups. At 5 years, the all‐cause death rate was 44.4% in HG, 52.1% in P‐LFLG (HR, 1.35 [95% CI, 1.23–1.48]; P <0.001), and 62.8% in C‐LFLG aortic stenosis (HR, 1.7 [95% CI, 1.54–1.88]; P <0.001). Conclusions: Up to 5 years after TAVI, patients with P‐LFLG have higher death rates than patients with HG aortic stenosis but lower death rates than patients with C‐LFLG aortic stenosis.

This study compares the influence of two different annuloplasty attachment suture applications, namely the use of an automated fastener versus manually tied knots using a traditional knot pusher, on total operation time, on cardiopulmonary-bypass time and on cross-clamp time, and on short-term outcome. Sixty patients underwent isolated minimally invasive mitral valve repair in Carpentier Type-II mitral disease with implantation of an annuloplasty ring in combination with correction of the prolapsing leaflet using artificial chords. The first 30 patients after implementation of a novel automated fastener were compared with the last 30 patients corrected with a traditional knot pusher. No significant differences with regard to demographic data (age, gender, NYHA class, ejection fraction, BMI, cardiovascular risk factors) between the two groups were found. All patients received isolated mitral valve repair in the first run. Bretschneider HTK was used for cardioplegic cardiac arrest in all patients. Transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography at the end of operation and at discharge revealed no (n = 25), trace (n = 28) or mild (n = 7) residual regurgitation with no evidence of ring dehiscence and without any significant clinical differences between the groups. Cross-clamp, cardiopulmonary-bypass and total- operation time were significantly reduced in the automated fastener group compared to the group using a traditional knot pusher (87.1 ± 17.9 vs. 101.3 ± 17.8; p < 0.01, 138.1 ± 25.6 vs. 152.7 ± 24.9; p < 0.05, and 203.9 ± 31.02 vs. 223.8 ± 29.01; p < 0.01, respectively). Our short-term results indicate a safe, reliable and fast application of the novel automated fastener device in combination with significant time savings in cardioplegic arrest and cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: Aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of endocarditis patients undergoing valve surgery with the Cytosorb^® hemoadsorption (HA) device during cardiopulmonary bypass. Methods: From 2009 until 2019, 241 patients had undergone valve surgery due to endocarditis at the Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital of Basel. We compared patients who received HA during surgery (n = 41) versus patients without HA (n = 200), after applying inverse probability of treatment weighting. Results: In-hospital mortality, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events and postoperative renal failure were similar in both groups. Demand for norepinephrine (88.4 vs. 52.8%; p = 0.001), milrinone (42.2 vs. 17.2%; p = 0.046), red blood cell concentrates (65.2 vs. 30.6%; p = 0.003), and platelets (HA vs. Control: 36.7 vs. 9.8%; p = 0.013) were higher in the HA group. In addition, a higher incidence of reoperation for bleeding (34.0 vs. 7.7 %; p = 0.011), and a prolonged length of in-hospital stay (15.2 (11.8 to 19.6) vs. 9.0 (7.1 to 11.3) days; p = 0.017) were observed in the HA group. Conclusions: No benefits of HA-therapy were observed in patients with infective endocarditis undergoing valve surgery.

Up to 20% of all infective endocarditis are blood culture-negative and therefore a diagnostic challenge. Here we present the case of an infective endocarditis due to Helicobacter cinaedi finally diagnosed using different molecular methods. This highly fastidious gram-negative spiral rod is increasingly recognized as a human pathogen, above all in immunocompromised patients. So far H. cinaedi has been associated with bacteremia, cellulitis, arthritis and meningitis. A 71-year-old man presented with fever and progressive dyspnea for weeks. He was immunocompromised by long-term steroid therapy. As one major and two minor Duke’s criteria (vegetation, fever and aortic valve stenosis as predisposition) were present, an infective endocarditis was suspected and an empiric therapy with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and gentamicin was established. The persistent severe aortic regurgitation resulted in a valve replacement. Histological evaluation of the aortic valve showed a polypous-ulcerative endocarditis. Gram stain and culture remained negative. Broad-range bacterial PCR targeting the 16S rRNA gene on the biopsy of the aortic valve identified H. cinaedi as the causative agent. The antibiotic therapy was simplified accordingly to ceftriaxone and gentamicin with a recommended duration of 6 weeks. Ten days after valve replacement the patient was discharged. To complete our molecular finding, we sequenced nearly the complete 16S rRNA gene (accession number KF914917) resulting in 99.9% identity with H. cinaedi reference sequences. Based on this result, 2 species-specific PCR tests amplifying part of the ctd gene were established and applied to the valve specimen. The 2 PCRs confirmed H. cinaedi. In addition, we analyzed stool, urine and saliva from the patient using H. cinaedi PCR. The fecal and urine specimen showed a positive signal, saliva was PCR-negative. We identified H. cinaedi as causative agent of a culture-negative endocarditis in an immunocompromised patient using broad-range and specific PCR. In addition to 2 cases from Japan presented on international meetings in 2010 and 2013, our case report shows that H. cinaedi should be recognized as additional causative organism of infective endocarditis. The use of molecular diagnostic techniques proved to be a powerful complement for the detection of blood culture-negative infective endocarditis.

Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become a widely used, comparably efficient and safe alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Its utilization continues to grow, especially among younger patients. Despite improvements in durability, degeneration and subsequent re-interventions of failed prosthetic valves are still common. Even though valve-in-valve procedures have become more frequent, little is known about the trends over time or about clinical and echocardiographic long-term outcomes. Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent a valve-in-valve procedure between December 2011 and December 2022 in a large tertiary university hospital were analyzed. Primary outcomes were defined as procedural and device successes as well as event-free survival. Secondary analyses between subsets of patients divided by index valve and date of procedure were performed. Results: Among 1407 procedures, 58 (4%) were valve-in-valve interventions, with an increased frequency observed over time. Overall, technical success was achieved in 88% and device success in 85% of patients. Complications were predominantly minor, with similar success rates among TAVR-in-SAVR (TiSAVR) and TAVR-in-TAVR (TiTAVR). Notably, there were significant and lasting improvements in mean echocardiographic gradients at 1 year. Event-free survival was 76% at one month and 69% at one year. Conclusions: Over the last decade, a rising trend of valve-in-valve procedures was observed. Despite an increase in procedures, complications show a contrasting decline with improved technical and device success over time. TiSAVR and TiTAVR showed comparable rates of procedural and device success as well as similar outcomes, highlighting the utility of valve-in-valve procedures in an aging population.