The late-breaking five-year results of the Evolut Low-Risk Trial presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2025 meeting in late March, showed positive results for the Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system vs. surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).
Howard Herrmann, MD, MSCAI, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and lead invesigator for the SMART trial, explains details on the 2-year data comparing the Evolut vs. Sapien 3 for TAVR in small annulus patients.
"The onus is on us as cardiologists to make sure we offer the very best possible devices for our patients with the available data that we have," interventional cardiologist Anene Ukaigwe, MD, explained.
Women with cardiovascular disease are consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated compared to men, and those disparities are true for aortic stenosis as well. Women with symptomatic severe AS are up to 35% less likely than men to undergo aortic valve replacement, for example, and they often have to wait longer just to be referred for further care.
TAVR is a go-to treatment for symptomatic severe aortic stenosis in much of the world, thanks in large part to the hard work of research teams that never stop looking for new, innovative ways to make the technology more effective.
“Good harmony” is the way John P. Erwin III, MD, describes the synergy of the 2021 ESC/EACTS Guidelines for the management of valvular heart disease (VHD) released in August along with the ACC/AHA guidelines that rolled in December 2020.
It’s not uncommon for severe aortic stenosis to go unrecognized, and thus untreated. When the data points to the existence of low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis, a diagnosis can be even more challenging.
Just-released valvular heart disease guidelines favor transcatheter interventions for the right patient and more shared decision-making among heart teams, physicians and severe aortic stenosis patients with an eye toward types of valves and approaches, and lifetime benefits and risks.
Learn from four leading cardiologists on the movement of TAVR into this low-risk patient population, how hospitals are increasing awareness among physicians and patients and the importance of connecting patients with heart teams.
