title: Pass the Rock: calcium, the achilles heel of transcatheter valve replacement.
abstract: Increasing annular calcification portends more adverse outcomes and worse hemodynamic results following percutaneous structural heart interventions. Though the Direct Flow prosthesis did not appear to have significantly different post-procedural gradients based on aortic valve calcium burden in a selected group of patients, the average residual gradients were relatively high in all cases and the presence of a paravalvular leak was more common with increasing valvular calcification. It is unclear how the Direct Flow prosthesis fits into the armamentarium of TAVR prostheses.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: McCabe
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Larry S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000601:surgery; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis; D002118:Calcium; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation; D006801:Humans; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium