Surgery and risks of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in Low Surgical Risk patients with aortic stenosis

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been shown to be a valid alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in high operative risk patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Evidence on the benefits and harms of TAVR in patients at low risk of surgery, however, is still scarce. In this study, we planned to review the literature on all aspects of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as a newly introduced method. In our review, TAVR was found to be safe in low-risk patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis in terms of low procedural complication rates, short hospital stays, zero mortality and risk of stroke that may leave 3 permanent sequelae. TAVR, both TAVR and SAVR carry similar stroke risks for intermediate-risk patients, suggesting that no procedure is inherently safer. Healthcare providers should take this into account when counselling individual patients, considering the benefits and disadvantages of each procedure. The present study focusses specifically on low-risk individuals, so the results for the intermediate-risk patients who may come before us may not be universally applicable.