Intraaortic Protection From Embolization in Patients Undergoing Transaortic Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

Purpose. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) results in the dislodgement of debris with risk of cerebral lesions or stroke. The EMBOL-X protection device (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) is positioned within the ascending aorta to capture such debris. Description. Between July 2012 and April 2014 we randomly assigned 30 high-risk patients to undergo transaortic TAVI with the SAPIEN XT prosthesis (Edwards Lifesciences) combined with either the EMBOL-X device (group-1, n = 14) or without (group-2, n = 16). Periprocedural cerebral lesions were assessed by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) at baseline and within 7 days post-procedurally. Evaluation. New foci of restricted diffusion on cerebral DW-MRI were found in 69% in group-2 and 50% in group-1. Lesion size was smaller in patients treated with the EMBOL-X device than in those without (88 +/- 60 vs 168 +/- 217 mm(3), p = 0.27, t [1.2, degrees of freedom = 10). Transaortic TAVI patients treated with the EMBOL-X device had significantly smaller lesion volumes in the supply region of the middle cerebral artery (33 +/- 29 vs 76 +/- 67 mm(3), p = 0.04). There were no neurologic events after transaortic TAVI. Conclusions. The intraaortic protection device seems to reduce both the incidence and the volume of new cerebral lesions (C) 2015 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons