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Project

Treatment of aortic valve stenosis in elderly: long-term outcome of the two main treatment strategies.

Aortic valve stenosis is the most frequently occurring type of heart valve disease. The incidence increases greatly in elderly, certainly from the age of 70 years old. Given the current rise in life expectancy and the increasing aging of the population, the number of patients with aortic valve stenosis increases annually. Currently, there are two main options for the treatment of severe, symptomatic aortic valve stenosis: a cardiac surgery in which the diseased valve is replaced by a suture-less biological valve (SAVR) or an intervention per catheter in which a new valve is placed over the calcified valve (TAVR). Both procedures are being performed in the University Hospitals Leuven for over 10 years now. The “heart-team” decides for each individual patient which procedure is more fitting. An elderly patient or a patient with many co-morbidities will more likely be treated with a TAVR while others might be treated with a cardiac surgery. The patients treated by cardiac surgery mainly receive a suture-less valve given that it decreases surgery time and is less drastic. This thesis-work will compare the complete cohort of patients with a suture-less valve (N > 850) and the patient-cohort that underwent a TAVR procedure (N > 650). The main variables that will be analyzed are survival, major complications and performance/durability of the new heart valves. A costs-benefit analysis might also be performed for both procedures.

Date:29 Sep 2020 →  Today
Keywords:aortic valve stenosis, TAVR, SAVR, cardiac surgery, biological heart valves
Disciplines:Cardiac surgery
Project type:PhD project