Here's a pretty interesting article (i thought) about the European 2011 meeting on TAVIs
http://www.theheart.org/article/129...medium=email&utm_source=20111020_EN_Heartwire
London, UK - New results are helping to inform operators about best practices for transcatheter aortic-valve implantation (TAVI), the PCR London Valves 2011 meeting heard this week. More than 40 000 TAVI procedures have now been performed worldwide, and the accumulating data are helping guide patient selection, choice of valve, and route of access, among other things, presenters said.
In a session on the latest registry data, there was general agreement that the two devices available in Europe—the Edwards Sapien valve and Medtronic's CoreValve—are broadly comparable, yet different, so that in many cases individual patient characteristics should guide the choice of valve.
However, one expert also feels that the volume of procedures performed by a center or operator should play a role in valve selection, with low-volume centers being better off using only one device, while those who perform many TAVI procedures could use both, selecting the best "fit" for a particular patient
"If you do few TAVI procedures—which I would say is less than three to four a week—then you should focus on one device. But if you do a sizable number of procedures, you can focus on more than one device," said interventionalist Dr Antonio Colombo (San Raffaele Hospital, Milan). .......more at link
http://www.theheart.org/article/129...medium=email&utm_source=20111020_EN_Heartwire
London, UK - New results are helping to inform operators about best practices for transcatheter aortic-valve implantation (TAVI), the PCR London Valves 2011 meeting heard this week. More than 40 000 TAVI procedures have now been performed worldwide, and the accumulating data are helping guide patient selection, choice of valve, and route of access, among other things, presenters said.
In a session on the latest registry data, there was general agreement that the two devices available in Europe—the Edwards Sapien valve and Medtronic's CoreValve—are broadly comparable, yet different, so that in many cases individual patient characteristics should guide the choice of valve.
However, one expert also feels that the volume of procedures performed by a center or operator should play a role in valve selection, with low-volume centers being better off using only one device, while those who perform many TAVI procedures could use both, selecting the best "fit" for a particular patient
"If you do few TAVI procedures—which I would say is less than three to four a week—then you should focus on one device. But if you do a sizable number of procedures, you can focus on more than one device," said interventionalist Dr Antonio Colombo (San Raffaele Hospital, Milan). .......more at link
