Antegrade approach for TAVR with total occlusion of the descending aorta

The antegrade approach for aortic valve interventions is well known but has not been widely used for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. We encountered a patient with no possibility of retrograde access due to a totally occluded abdominal aorta who had a failed attempt at apical TAVR. We describe antegrade TAVR despite occlusion of the abdominal aorta, with the arterial limb of the requisite veno‐arterial loop created using bilateral arm access, a novel version of the previously described antegrade approach. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Intraoperative Unterbrechung einer akzessorischen Leitungsbahn

We report the case of a male patient who had undergone successful cardiac surgery about 20 years previously for a posteroseptal accessory pathway that caused almost incessant orthodromic AV reentrant tachycardia, but presented again recently with new onset cardiac arrhythmia. 3D mapping demonstrated scar-related reentrant tachycardia in the right atrium with a critical isthmus between the atriotomy scar and terminal crest, which could be successfully treated using irrigated-tip high-frequency catheter ablation.     

The society for cardiovascular angiography and interventions structural heart disease early career task force survey results: Endorsed by the society for cardiovascular angiography and interventions

Over the last decade, structural heart disease interventions have emerged as a new field in interventional cardiology. Currently, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accredited interventional cardiology fellowship programs in the United States provide high‐quality and well established training curriculum in coronary and peripheral interventions, but training in structural interventions remains in its infancy. The current survey seeks to collect relevant information and assess the opinion of interventional cardiology program directors in ACGME‐accredited institutions that are actively involved in structural interventional training. Our study describes the actual number of structural procedures performed by interventional cardiology fellows in ACGME‐accredited programs, the form of the structural training today and the suggestions from program directors who are actively trying to integrate structural training in the interventional cardiology fellowship programs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.