BACKGROUND Despite the established superiority of mitral repair over replacement, its adoption in the treatment of elderly patients has not been uniform, partly because of a lack of robust long-term survival data. We present the long-term survival of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries undergoing mitral valve repair and replacement over a 10-year period. METHODS AND RESULTS We used the Med...

Two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography was performed prospectively in 100 patients with aortic stenosis who were undergoing clinically indicated cardiac catheterization. The purpose of this study procedure was to determine various Doppler variables predictive of the severity of aortic stenosis and to compare Doppler- and catheterization-derived aortic valve areas. Doppler-derived mean gra...

BACKGROUND This study was performed to determine independent predictors of long-term outcome after percutaneous balloon dilation of congenital pulmonary valve stenosis. Smaller follow-up series of patients after balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty have shown inconsistent results regarding the independent relation between prognostic factors and long-term outcome, as many patient selection and techni...

The continuity equation suggests that a ratio of velocities at two different cardiac valves is inversely proportional to the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the valves. To determine whether a ratio of mitral/aortic valve orifice velocities is useful in determining aortic valve area in patients with aortic stenosis, 10 control subjects and 22 patients with predominant aortic stenosis were exam...

Real-time, cross-sectional echocardiographic studies of the aortic valve were performed in 28 children with congenital valvular aortic stenosis and in 22 normal subjects. The presence of a stenotic valve was indicated by increase in echo production, abnormal motion pattern, and abnormal systolic position of the valve leaflets. Comparison of the maximum aortic cusp separation (MACS) to calculate...

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as an alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis at extreme or high surgical risk. We have previously reported that TAVR with a self-expanding aortic valve bioprosthesis in patients at increased risk for surgery was associated with better 1-year and 2-year survival compared...

BACKGROUND There is a paucity of long-term data comparing biological versus mechanical aortic valve prostheses in older individuals. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed follow-up of patients aged 65 to 80 years undergoing aortic valve replacement with a biological (n=24 410) or mechanical (n=14 789) prosthesis from 1991 to 1999 at 605 centers within the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac...

BACKGROUND The CoreValve US High-Risk Clinical Study compared clinical outcomes and serial echocardiographic findings in patients with severe aortic valve stenosis after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with a self-expanding bioprosthesis or surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). METHODS AND RESULTS Eligible patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to TAVR with a self-expanding bio...