A 75-year-old male, with a past medical history of chronic kidney disease stage 3 (CKD3) and a recent diagnosis of bilateral hydronephrosis and Foley catheter placement, presented to the emergency department for fever. Blood cultures grew Aerococcus urinae. Transthoracic echo (TTE) demonstrated thickened aortic valve leaflets with perforation, multiple echo densities, and severe aortic regurgitation. The patient developed decompensated congestive heart failure and cardiogenic shock. En route to surgery for emergent aortic valve replacement, the patient lost pulse and was resuscitated. The patient was subsequently transferred to the ICU where the family decided to initiate comfort care measures. This case highlights the importance and necessity of the prompt diagnosis and treatment of infective endocarditis and makes the reader aware of uncommon and rare organisms, such as Aerococcus urinae, as potential etiologies.
Introduction:
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has proven to be safe and efficacious in patients with tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) stenosis. However, due to its anatomic complexity, bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) stenosis has been excluded from previous trials, and data remain limited regarding TAVR in this group of patients.
Methods:
We searched the databases systematically for relevant studies from inception to March 2022. The primary focus was all-cause mortality at 1-year. Additional outcomes included 30-day mortality, 30-day stroke, and 30-day major vascular complications.
Results:
We included 28 studies with a total of 346,033 patients who underwent TAVR, of which 17,835 patients had BAV stenosis. The risks of 1-year mortality and 30-day major vascular complications were similar between the 2 groups. However, patients with BAV who underwent TAVR had a higher risk of 30-days mortality (BAV 2.3% vs TAV 2.2%, p=0.02) and 30-day stroke (BAV 2.2% vs TAV 1.8%, p=0.01). A subgroup analysis of 23,623 matched patients of whom 49.5% had BAV stenosis was performed. The risk of 1-year mortality was lower in patients with BAV compared to TAV (BAV 5.8% vs TAV 6.8%, p=0.009). Risks of 30-day mortality, and 30-day major vascular complication were similar between the two groups. However, the risk of 30-day stroke was higher in the BAV group (BAV 2.2% vs TAV 1.7%, p=0.02).
Conclusions:
In our meta-analysis, among patients who underwent TAVR for aortic stenosis, there was no significant difference between BAV vs TAV in outcomes, except for higher risk of 30-days mortality and stroke. Among matched groups, patients with BAV stenosis undergoing TAVR had comparable outcomes to patients with TAV stenosis except for higher risk of stroke and lower risk of 1-year mortality in BAV group.More studies, specifically randomized trials, are still warranted to further assess efficacy, safety and reassure the long-term outcomes in this group of patients.
Introduction:
Over the past decade, several next generation transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices have been developed with the aim of improving patients’ outcomes. Bicuspid aortic valves (BAVs) are an emerging issue in TAVR practice. The goal of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of TAVR using balloon-expandable (BE) versus self-expanding (SE) transcatheter heart valves in patients with BAV vs tricuspid aortic valve (TAV).
Methods:
We searched PubMed, Cochrane and Embase databases systematically for relevant studies from inception to March 2022. The primary focus was 1-year all-cause mortality. Additional outcomes included short term (30-days) all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, stroke, major/life threatening bleeding, permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation and major vascular complications.
Results:
There were 28 studies with a total 346,033 patients who underwent TAVR, 17,835 of which had BAV stenosis. In the BE group, there was a statistically lower risk of mortality of TAVR in the BAV when compared to the TAV (OR 0.69 [95% CI 0.49-0.97]; p=0.03). In terms of short-term outcomes of BE group, the risks of all-cause mortality, stroke, PPM implantation, major bleeding, and major vascular complications were all similar between the two arms. In the SE group, there were not statistically significant in the clinical outcomes between patients in BAV and TAV.
Conclusions:
The use of balloon-expandable valves in TAVR was associated with a lower risk of 1-year mortality in patients with BAV compared to patients with TAV. These data support the need for a randomized trial to compare the balloon-expandable valves in BAV patients.
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