Specialists complete first procedure in historic head-to-head TAVR study
A study with significant implications for the future of patient care is officially underway. Specialists at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia have reported completing the first procedure in a global head-to-head study comparing the safety and effectiveness of two leading transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) systems.
The Small Annuli Randomized to Evolut or Sapien (SMART) post-market trial is designed to compare the safety and effectiveness of self-expanding TAVR systems manufactured by Medtronic and balloon-expandable systems manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences when treating patients with small annuli. More than 90 different facilities are taking part in the trial, and approximately 700 patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis are expected to participate. A majority of study participants are expected to be women due to the trial’s focus on individuals with small annuli.
Howard C. Herrmann, MD, a professor of cardiovascular diseases at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, is leading the trial.
“Penn Medicine has been in on the ground floor of many of the early and landmark trials in TAVR research since performing one of the first investigational procedures in 2007, and, since then, we have completed thousands of these procedures,” he said in a prepared statement. “Subsequently, multiple devices have been FDA approved, and the procedure has grown to become the predominant one for all patients with aortic stenosis. The outcome of this study will help cardiac teams to make more tailored decisions about which kind of valve to use on which patients.”
The SMART trial’s estimated primary completion date is May 2023. The estimated study completion date, meanwhile, is May 2028.
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