Balloon aortic valvuloplasty in the transcatheter valve era: single centre indications and early safety data in a high risk population

Background: The introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has generated a renewed interest in the techniques available to treat high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). We report our single centre experience with balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) focussing on indications, procedural success and 30-day outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients that underwent BAV procedures at our institution between August 2012 and August 2014. Procedural success and complications were adjudicated according to VARC-2 criteria. Results: Fifty-one consecutive adult patients with severe symptomatic AS underwent a total of 55 BAV procedures. The patients had a mean age of 88 ± 5.7 years and all had extensive comorbidities with a high surgical risk (mean logistic EuroSCORE of 25.22% ± 14.5%). Indications for BAV included palliation of symptoms n = 42 (76%); bridge to definitive valve replacement (n = 6, 11%); and evaluation of response (n = 6, 11%). The procedure was completed in all patients with no intraprocedural deaths (within 24 hours) and low 30-day mortality at 3.9% (n = 2). Minor vascular complications occurred in 11.8% (n = 6), whilst permanent pacemaker implantation was required in 5.8% (n = 3). There were no cases of myocardial infarction, stroke, tamponade, severe aortic regurgitation or major vascular complications during 30-day follow-up. Conclusions: Balloon aortic valvuloplasty may be performed safely and effectively with high procedural success and low 30-day complications, even in a very high-risk and elderly cohort of patients in whom the role of TAVI is uncertain or inappropriate