Filter Protection System Reduces Cerebral Lesions in Patients Undergoing TAVR

WASHINGTON D.C. -- September 16, 2014 -- Use of a dual-filter cerebral protection system reduces the number and volume of cerebral lesions in patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transaortic valve replacement (TAVR), according to prospective research presented at the 2014 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting (TCT).

“In patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at increased surgical risk, the use of [a] dual-filter cerebral protection system during TAVR significantly reduces the number and volume of cerebral lesions as determined by DW-MRI [diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging] subtraction at 2 and 7 days after TAVR,” explained presenter Axel Linke, MD, University of Leipzig Heart Center, Leipzig, Germany, speaking here at a plenary session on September 13.

“Although results with TAVR have improved considerably over the last decade, stroke remains a major issue, and increases mortality by threefold,” Dr. Linke noted. He said also that neuro-imaging studies are revealing ischaemic brain lesions in more than two-thirds of these patients. “We know that those lesions are associated with a poorer neurocognitive outcome,” he added.