New Drugs and Technologies

Bioprosthetic valves are increasingly used in patients with aortic stenosis. Compared with mechanical valves, bio-prosthetic valves are associated with a lower risk of thrombo-embolic events and do not require long-term anticoagulation.1,2 However, bioprosthetic valves have limited durability; the best current valves can be expected to degenerate within 10 to 20 years, resulting in stenosis or regurgitation. Surgical valve replacement is the current standard of care for these patients. However, reoperative morbidity and mortality risk is signifi-cant, not only because of the complexity of reoperation but also because many of these patients have comorbidities, par-ticularly advanced age.1–5 Transcatheter heart valve (THV) implantation for native valve aortic stenosis has evolved as a viable, less invasive alter-native to open heart surgery in selected patients.6 Recently, THV implantation within failed surgically implanted bio