This post was authored by David R. Holmes, Jr., MD, MACC, a past president of the ACC.As the number of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures continues to grow in the U.S., the STS/ACC TVT Registry continues to be a resource to track patient safety and real-world TAVR outcomes.This past weekend at Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ Annual Meeting, a report using data from the TVT Registry and the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database was presented and showed that since TAVR has been commercially available in the U.S., low- and intermediate-risk surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) volumes have continued to increase. Further, while the volume of SAVR has declined slightly in high-risk cases, combined TAVR and SAVR volumes have risen (from 4,249 cases in 2011 to 8,082 in 2012), and overall associated mortality has declined in this cohort, from 8.9 percent in 2011 to 7.0 percent in 2012.I was also a panelist in the ACC @ STS session, which looked at a true collaborative “heart team” approach to handling complex issues in the treatment of aortic valvular disease. ­I shared initial data and outcomes from the TVT Registry, which has shown that patients should be confident that TAVR is a safe and effective new strategy of care.I also shared the findings from the first report released on the U.S. "commercial experience with TAVR," that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this past November, which showed that real-world procedures are consistent with previously published randomized trial data as well as other global experience, with low rates of in-hospital mortality and procedural complication rates.

This year, ACC.14 has several sessions on the topic of TAVR within the TCT@ACC-i2 Learning Pathway. As the science progresses and literature develops, we will continue to have much to share and learn from one another.

Visit CardioSource.org/TVT for the latest news and updates on TAVR.
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