Multiple recent studies have provided long-term outcomes data for TAVR. These trials have been critical for clinicians because long-term valve durability has remained a key consideration as TAVR expands to broader patient populations. Clinicians don’t want to be implanting heart valves that need to be replaced after just a handful of years. Patients don’t want that either.

Andy Morse, MD, the director of valvular and structural heart disease at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West in Nashville, leads a team that has performed more than 4,000 TAVR procedures. He spoke to Cardiovascular Business about recent findings on the long-term performance of the balloon-expandable SAPIEN 3™ platform.

TAVR is increasingly seen as the preferred option for symptomatic severe aortic stenosis, and clinical guidelines in the U.S. reserve their highest recommendations for patients who experience symptoms. Asymptomatic patients, meanwhile, are typically managed by clinical surveillance or a “watch and wait” approach; no symptoms means no treatment.