Early regression of left ventricular wall thickness following percutaneous aortic valve replacement with the CoreValve bioprosthesis.
OBJECTIVE
Severe aortic stenosis (AS) is associated with hypertrophy of the left ventricle (LVH), which is linked to adverse clinical outcomes. To date, the effects of the novel technology of percutaneous aortic valve replacement (PAVR) on LVH in severe AS have not been described. We sought to test the hypothesis that PAVR would result in regression of LVH associated with severe AS.


METHODS
Patients were recruited as part of a single-arm, prospective, safety, feasibility and clinical outcome study of the third-generation CoreValve percutaneous aortic bioprosthesis. To assess hypertrophy at baseline and at 1 month, the parasternal long-axis view in end-diastole was used to assess interventricular septal dimension and left ventricular posterior wall dimension.


RESULTS
15 patients were studied. There were significant periprocedural reductions in peak (76.6 +/- 28.1 mmHg to 16.3 +/- 7.5 mmHg; p < 0.001) and mean (45.3 +/- 18.4 mmHg to 8.2 +/- 3.7 mmHg; p = 0.001) transvalvular gradients and increases in calculated aortic valve areas (0.73 +/- 0.19 cm2 to 1.5 +/- 0.3 cm2). Septal wall thickness regressed by 13% from 1.54 +/- 0.30 cm at baseline to 1.35 +/- 0.27 cm at 1 month (for difference; p = 0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrate an early regression of septal hypertrophy after PAVR for severe AS which is comparable to that seen at 1 year after conventional surgical aortic valve replacement.
Jilaihawi
Hasan
H
Department of Cardiology, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, United Kingdom.
Jeilan
Mohamed
M
Spyt
Tomasz
T
Chin
Derek
D
Logtens
Elaine
E
Kovac
Jan
J