ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although balloon sizing has been found to be useful during transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), its effectiveness in patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BiAV) remains unknown. METHODS: Patients who underwent balloon sizing were retrospectively identified. The study comprised 67 patients (61.2% with BiAV). Preprocedural hypothetical transcatheter heart valve (THV) sizing was based on multislice computed tomography (MSCT) measurements at the annulus. Changes in valve size after balloon sizing were reviewed. Postprocedural MSCT measurements and the grade of paravalvular aortic regurgitation (PAR) were compared. RESULTS: When comparing patients with a BiAV and those with a tricuspid aortic valve (TiAV), there was no significant difference (pâ¯= 0.97) in the proportion of decreased (43.9% vs. 46.2%), unchanged (51.2% vs. 50.0%), or increased (4.9% vs. 3.8%) valve sizes chosen on the basis of MSCT findings. The anticipated annular sizing ratio for patients who received a smaller valve was 7.2% (3.5-10.5%) while it was 15.7% (12.5-19.0) for the others (pâ¯< 0.01), and no significant difference in the proportion of mild (or more severe) PAR cases was found between the groups (37.9% vs. 30.6%, pâ¯= 0.53â¯at the 1month follow-up). Stent frame expansion and eccentricity index were comparable between the BiAV and TiAV subgroups among patients who received a smaller THV after balloon sizing. CONCLUSION: Balloon sizing is a useful tool that is complementary to the current gold standard of MSCT for THV size selection as well as for BiAV morphology assessment.
Subject(s)
Aortic Valve Stenosis , Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation , Heart Valve Prosthesis , Percutaneous Coronary Intervention , Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement , Aged , Aortic Valve , Humans , Male , Multidetector Computed Tomography , Prosthesis Design , Retrospective Studies , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
The examination of top-cited studies is a useful method for identify and monitoring outstanding scientific research. The objective of this study was to identify and analyse the characteristics of the top 100 cited research studies on tuberculosis (TB) based on the Web of Knowledge. Overall, the top 100 cited studies were cited between 366 and 4443 times, and were published between 1995 and 2010, with the largest number of publications in 2003 and in 1995. Four studies were attributed to a single author and 10 to two authors; the number of authors exceeded six in 50 studies. Nine authors had more than one study as the first author and 18 authors had more than one study as the corresponding author. The United States contributed the largest number of studies, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The institutions with the largest number of articles were the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale in France and the University of California in the United States. The studies appeared in 35 journals, with 11 published in Science, followed by PNAS and NEJM. The majority of TB articles have been published in those medical journals with the highest impact factors, and are from the most industrialised countries.
