The Use of Biological Heart Valves: Types of Prosthesis, Durability and Complications

Sami Kueri, Fabian A. Kari, Rafael Ayala Fuentes, Hans Hinrich Sievers, Friedhelm Beyersdorf, Wolfgang Bothe*

*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

Background: Biological heart-valve prostheses have undergone continuous development up to the present, and technological advances have been made in catheter-assisted valve systems (transcatheter aortic valve implantation, TAVI) and minimally invasive routes of application. These parallel trends have led to major changes in therapeutic strategies, widening the spectrum of patients who are candidates for biological aortic valve implantation.

Methods: This review is based on pertinent publications retrieved by a systematic search in PubMed employing the search terms “conventional biological aortic prosthesis,” “rapid deployment prosthesis,” and “transcatheter aortic valve implantation/replacement.”

Results: Among biological heart-valve prostheses, a distinction is drawn between stented (conventional, rapid-deployment, and catheter-assisted) and non-stented types. The long-term durability of conventional, surgically implantable biological valve protheses is by far the best documented: the reported 5-year reoperation rates range from 13.4% to 36.6%, and the pacemaker implantation rate is ca. 4%. Rapid-deployment prostheses combine the advantages of conventional and catheter-assisted techniques and facilitate minimally invasive approaches. The TAVI method is currently recommended for high- and intermediate-risk patients, while conventional valve replacement remains the method of choice for those at low risk. Rapid-deployment and TAVI prostheses is associated with a higher pacemaker implantation rate than conventional prostheses: these rates are 8.5–15.3% for TAVI and 6.0–8.8% for rapid-deployment valves. The intermediate-term durability of catheter-assisted and rapid-deployment prostheses appears promising, but their long-term durability is still unclear.

Conclusion: The further development of biological heart-valve prostheses in the form of improved conventional, transcatheter, and rapid-deployment prostheses now enables individualized treatment. Before any such procedure is performed, the cardiac team must assess the patient’s risk profile and the advantages and disadvantages of each type of prosthesis to determine which is best.

Translated title of the contributionEinsatz biologischer herzklappen: Prothesentypen, haltbarkeit und komplikationen
Original languageEnglish
JournalDeutsches Arzteblatt International
Volume116
Issue number25
Pages (from-to)423-430
Number of pages8
ISSN1866-0452
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21.06.2019

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Use of Biological Heart Valves: Types of Prosthesis, Durability and Complications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this