Influence of transcatheter aortic valve replacement on patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing non-cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to clarify the influence of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing non-cardiac surgery. METHODS: Thirty-four patients with severe AS diagnosed by preoperative evaluation for non-cardiac surgery were reviewed and compared in two categories. First, patient profiles and surgical risk were compared before (pre-TAVR group; n = 10) and after (post-TAVR group; n = 24) the introduction of TAVR. Second, the completion rate of non-cardiac surgery and interval between the two cardiac and non-cardiac operations were compared between surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR) patients before the introduction of TAVR (pre-AVR group (n = 10)), in AVR patients after the introduction of TAVR (post-AVR (n = 12)), and in TAVR patients (TAVR group (n = 12)). RESULTS: Age and Japan score were higher in the post-TAVR group than in the pre-TAVR group. Malignancy was the most common non-cardiac disease (80%) in the pre-TAVR group, whereas orthopedic disease was the most common (50%) in the post-TAVR group. Completion rate of non-cardiac operation in the pre-AVR, post-AVR and TAVR groups was 70, 33, and 75% (post-AVR vs. TAVR: p = 0.010), and the interval between the two operations was 129 ± 98 days, 87 ± 40 days and 27 ± 15 days, respectively (pre AVR vs. TAVR: p = 0.034 and post AVR vs. TAVR: p = 0.025). In the post-TAVR group, AVR was selected because of a lack of fitness for TAVR in 5 of 12 patients. CONCLUSIONS: After the introduction of TAVR, more senile and high-risk patients became candidates for a two-stage operation, and orthopedic conditions became the most common non-cardiac disease. Innovation in transcatheter valvular interventions and expansion of indications for patients currently evaluated as "unfit for TAVR" might be crucial issues for non-cardiac surgery with severe AS.

[Mitral Valve Plasty in Active Infective Endocarditis].

According to the current guideline, early surgery is recommended in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). On the other hand, mitral valve plasty (MVP) became the preferred surgical option in patients with IE, because of its benefits in the preservation of left ventricular function and prevention of recurrence of infection. Feasibility of MVP is an important issue in surgical strategy, however, it might be associated with the timing of the operation:feasibility of MVP might be higher in healed IE than active IE, although there had been no clear evidence in previous studies. In order to develop scoring system to predict feasibility of MVP in patients with active IE, we have introduced "severity score".Severity score defined as the sum of valvular score which evaluates the extensiveness of the valvular destruction, and technical score which evaluates the complexity and durability of the repair. Probability of feasible MVP was high in severity score≤7 points and low in severity score≥9 points. MVP is basically selected in patients with severity score of 8 points, taking the benefit of patients and risks of longterm durability into consideration. We believe that severity score is valuable and reproducible scoring system in surgical decision making.

Predictive Factor of the Possibility for Aortic Side Branches Coil Embolization during Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair.

Objective: Coil embolization of aortic side branches has been additionally performed to prevent type II endoleak during EVAR in our institute. In this study, we evaluated the predictive factors of the possibility for coil embolization of the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) and lumbar artery (LA) during EVAR. Methods: Seventy-four EVAR patients during June 2015 and April 2019 were included in the study. The coil embolization procedural time for one vessel is limited to 10 min. Aortic side branches were selected with 4 Fr Shepherd hook type catheter (Medikit, Tokyo, Japan) and were embolized with Interlock (Boston Scientific, MA, USA) via microcatheter. As predictive factors, internal diameter of aortic side branches and the aortic diameter perpendicular to the origin of LA (aortic diameter) were evaluated. Results: Coil embolization was tried for 52 patent IMAs and all IMAs except two IMAs with ostial stenosis were successfully coil embolized (96.2%). Totally 190 LAs were patent and coil embolization was tried for 144 LAs. Among 144 LAs, 106 LAs (73.6%) were successfully coil embolized and the diameter was significantly longer (2.30±0.51 mm vs. 2.04±0.41 mm, p=0.007) and aortic dimeter was significantly shorter (30.0±8.1 mm vs. 40.5±11.6 mm, p<0.001) in successfully embolized LAs. Cut off value of successful LA coil embolization was 2.06 mm for internal diameter and 36.1 mm for aortic diameter by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Successful coil embolization rate for LAs with internal diameter longer than 2.0 mm and aortic diameter less than 36.2 mm was 90% (72 among 80 LAs). Conclusion: Coil embolization during EVAR for IMA was highly successful, if there was no calcified ostial stenosis. LA embolization was feasible especially for LAs with internal diameter ≥2.0 mm and aortic diameter ≤36.1 mm. This information would be useful to select the target vessel for aortic side branches coil embolization during EVAR. (This is a translation of Jpn J Vasc Surg 2019; 28: 389-396.).