Thoracic Key

Introduction The only balloon-expandable valve currently on the market is the Edward Sapien Heart valve manufactured by Edwards Life Sciences. This chapter will focus on the procedural techniques involved in…

Background Aortic stenosis (AS) is common in the elderly population, with a prevalence of approximately 3% in patients over 75 years old. The prognosis of symptomatic severe AS is poor,…

Background Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease in the elderly population, with a prevalence of approximately 3% in patients over 75 years old. The prognosis of symptomatic…

Transseptal catherization was first described by Ross, Braunwald, and Morrow in 1959 as a feasible method to obtain direct left atrial (LA) pressure measurements. Although the use of transseptal puncture…

Introduction The field of transcatheter structural heart interventions has grown tremendously in recent years. Because operators are not able to directly visualize the cardiac anatomy during percutaneous procedures, live imaging…

Introduction Invasive hemodynamic assessment is a critical part of structural intervention. Imaging and hemodynamics are complementary, and both need to be mastered for effectiveness in structural heart disease (SHD) interventions….

Structural heart disease (SHD) intervention is the fastest-growing area in cardiology and cardiac surgery. The number of transcatheter procedures has increased from approximately 5000 procedures in 2012 to over 60,000…

Introduction Procedural and clinical outcomes for patients referred to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, including those undergoing percutaneous structural heart interventions, depend on obtaining safe and adequate vascular access. Structural heart…