Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the
treatment of choice for severe symptomatic aortic
stenosis in inoperable patients, and an alternative
treatment for those at high risk. The coexistence of
coronary artery disease (CAD) adds morbidity and
mortality to the procedure. Prior percutaneous
coronary intervention (PCI) has been suggested as
safe and related to a better prognosis. However, PCI
in the left main coronary artery (LMCA) prior to
TAVI has been poorly represented in clinical trials
and scarcely reported. Herein are presented three
cases of a successful sequential approach by LMCA
stenting and TAVI, underlining the importance of
clinical and anatomic assessment by a
multidisciplinary team. Future studies will be
necessary to provide more evidence for this
indication.
The Journal of Heart Valve Disease 2013;22:
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the
treatment of choice for severe symptomatic aortic
stenosis in inoperable patients, and an alternative
treatment for those at high risk (1). The evidence of its
safety in patients with prior percutaneous coronary
intervention (PCI) of the left main coronary artery
(LMCA) is scarce (2,3). Moreover, LMCA disease has
been poorly represented in main clinical TAVI trials.
Herein are reported three cases of patients who
underwent TAVI after percutaneous LMCA
revascularization.
Cases reports
The clinical, angiographic and echocardiographic
characteristics of the patients are shown in Table I. All
three patients had a high surgical risk (mean
EuroSCORE 34.5%) and a good functional status prior
to the procedure (mean Barthel index 95), which
previewed clinical benefit after the intervention. The
patients were evaluated by a multidisciplinary heart
team before the intervention. The distance between the
annulus and ostium of the LMCA, as well as the aortic
root diameter (as a mean of the shortest and longest
diameters), were evaluated using computed
tomographic angiography (CTA) (Table I). PCI of the
LMCA was performed at a mean of six months before
TAVI. The indication for LMCA PCI was an acute
coronary syndrome in all subjects. Prophylactic intra-
aortic balloon pumping was not used in any case.
The LMCA lesions were 60%, 80% and 70%,
respectively (see Table I). The first lesion was further
assessed using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), while
the remaining two lesions were considered significant
and treated directly. All patients underwent successful
PCI of the LMCA with only one stent. Two patients
received drug-eluting stents, and one patient a bare
metal stent due to a history of gastrointestinal
bleeding. As shown in Figure 1, ostial coverage of the
LMCA was guaranteed by bulging the stent 1-2 mm
out to the aorta. No periprocedural myocardial
infarctions were documented. IVUS was performed in
all three cases after PCI, in order to confirm good stent
deployment. Stent patency was evaluated prior to
TAVI. Additional coronary lesions were present in all
patients (Table I), but were only treated if they
involved proximal segments with an acceptable native
vessel diameter (>2.0 mm).
The implanted valve was Edwards-SAPIEN XT® in
all cases. The access approach was transapical in two
patients and transfemoral in one patient after thoracic
and peripheral CTA assessment. All TAVI procedures
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in Patients with
Left Main Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Joaquim Cevallos
1
, Rut Andrea
1
, Carlos Falces
1
, Victoria Martín-Yuste
1
, Xavier Freixa
1
, Bàrbara
Vidal
1
, Salvatore Brugaletta
1
, Manuel Castellá
2
, Mónica Masotti
1
, Manel Sabaté
1
Departments of
1
Cardiology and
2
Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona,
Spain
Address for correspondence:
Joaquim Cevallos, Cardiology Department, Thorax Institute,
Hospital Clínic, C/Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain
e-mail: jcevallo@clinic.ub.es
© Copyright by ICR Publishers 2013