SAN DIEGO – The 5-year results of the PARTNER 1 trial in presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology were reassuring for clinicians treating patients with severe aortic stenosis at high risk for surgery, said to Dr. Jeffrey J. Popma of Beth Israel DeaconessMedical Center, Boston, in a video interview. The data showed comparable mortality between transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), as well as long-term durability of the SAPIEN transcatheter valve, he said.
With these similar outcome results, Dr. Popma asks, can the less-invasive TAVR procedure be considered the preferred treatment over SAVR in these very-sick patients?