Objectives: In an effort to maintain the technical aspects of traditional prosthetic surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR) while reducing invasiveness and facilitate options for concomitant operations, transaxillary lateral mini-thoracotomy endoscopic robotic-assisted aortic valve replacement (RAVR) has been introduced. The present data highlight the contemporary international collaborative experience. METHODS: All consecutive patients undergoing standardized RAVR across 10 international sites (1/2020–7/2024) were evaluated using a central database with 1 year follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 300 patients were analysed with a median predicted risk of 1.6% with aortic stenosis in 85.7%, nearly half with bicuspid valves. Biological prostheses were implanted in 220 (73.3%) with a median valve size 23 mm, 10% receiving aortic root enlargement, with 17% of all patients undergoing concomitant procedures. Median cross-clamp 120 min with no conversions to sternotomy. Median length of stay was 5 days, 4.3% with prolonged ventilation, 1.7% renal failure, 1.0% stroke and 8.3% required re-thoracotomy for evacuation of haemothorax. There were two 30-day operative mortalities (0.7%). The new permanent pacemaker rate for the full cohort was 2.6%. Of 163 patients with complete 1-year clinical and echocardiographic follow-up, mean aortic valve gradient was 10 mmHg and all but 2 patients (1.2%) had trace to no prosthetic or paravalvular insufficiency. CONCLUSIONS: RAVR is safe and effective, providing the reproducible benefits of surgical AVR while affording a less invasive approach that permits the opportunity for concomitant procedures. For low and intermediate risk patients with aortic valve disease, RAVR is a potential reproducible alternative for patients and heart teams.
1 September 2021 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes
Background: The management of severe mitral regurgitation (MR) after transcatheter edge‐to‐edge repair (TEER) remains a clinical conundrum. Considering the growing volume of TEER, more outcomes data for mitral surgery in this cohort are needed. Methods and Results: Symptomatic patients with persistent or recurrent severe MR after TEER evaluated between May 2014 and June 2021 were included. The primary outcome was all‐cause mortality in patients who were treated with surgery versus medical therapy. The Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression methods were used to report risk‐adjusted survival analyses. Among the 142 included patients, 44 (31.0%) underwent mitral surgery. Patients who underwent surgery were younger than those treated medically (74.1±8.9 versus 78.6±10.5 years, P =0.01). Major comorbidities were similar except obesity, sleep apnea, left ventricular dimensions, and ejection fraction. Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Operative Mortality was 9.0±4.7 versus 7.9±4.9 in the surgical versus medical therapy groups, respectively, P =0.22. Time from TEER to detection of severe MR was similar in both groups (median [interquartile range] 97.5 [39.5–384] versus 93.5 [40–389] days in the surgical versus medical groups, respectively [ P >0.05]). In the surgical group, valve replacement was performed in all patients. Operative mortality was 4.5% (observed/expected ratio 0.55), and major complications were uncommon. After risk‐adjustment, surgery was associated with significantly lower all‐cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.12–0.92], P =0.001) compared with medial therapy. Conclusions: Compared with medical therapy, mitral surgery in patients with severe persistent or recurrent MR after TEER is associated with lower mortality despite the high‐risk profile of these patients. Patients with severe MR after TEER should be considered for surgery at a referral mitral surgical center.