RESUMO
Transcutaneous aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become a widely accepted minimally invasive approach for treatment of severe aortic stenosis. Self-expandable prostheses are commonly the device of choice, with excellent procedural success and durability. However, there have been several recent case reports of infolding of the self-expandable prosthesis during development with subsequent malfunction and need for further intervention. We present a case of self-expandable valve prosthesis infolding managed by balloon postdilation, and summarize the cases reported in the literature to date in an attempt to increase awareness of this serious technical problem and the factors associated with it.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND AIM: End-stage heart failure (HF) patients are at high risk for mortality and morbidity. We aimed to study the role of cardiac output (CO) assessed by Doppler as a noninvasive tool, to predict mortality, rehospitalization rate, and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation at 6 months. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 60 patients with end-stage HF from different etiologies and an LV ejection fraction ≤20%. Patients were divided into two groups, according to the cardiac index (CI) measured by cardiac ultrasound and Doppler - Group 1: low CO or CI <2 l/min/m2 and Group 2: preserved CO or CI ≥2 l/min/m2. Group 1 included 30 patients with mean CI of 1.52 ± l/min/m2. Group 2 included 30 patients with mean CI of 2.27 ± l/min/m2. At 6 months of follow-up, mortality was significantly higher in Group 1 compared to Group 2 (16% vs. 5%, P = 0.0001). Patients in Group 1 had higher hospitalization rate at 6 months compared to patients in Group 2 (3.5 ± 0.9 vs. 1.9 ± 0.6, P = 0.013). There was significantly more LVAD implantation in 16 patients (26%) in Group 1 versus seven patients (12%) in Group 2 (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: CI measured noninvasively by cardiac ultrasound is a simple and useful tool in HF patients' risk stratification and in predicting prognosis and outcome.
