A staged approach to transcatheter aortic valve implantation and mitral valve-in-valve implantation for a degenerated bioprosthesis in a high-risk patient

Recently, small case series have described the successful off-label use of transcatheter valve implantation in patients with degenerated bioprosthetic valves in the mitral position. We report here the case of a 78-year old female patient who underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation for severe aortic stenosis and transapical valve-in-valve implantation for a degenerated mitral bioprosthesis. There was no evidence of intraprosthetic regurgitation and/or paraprosthetic leakages on control angiography and transoesophageal echocardiography. The postoperative course was uneventful. Following accurate patient selection and evaluation by an experienced multidisciplinary team, the transcatheter approach to double-valve implantation in the aortic and mitral positions may represent a viable treatment option for those high-risk patients who would otherwise be inoperable. We preferred a two-step approach, considering a single procedure to be high-risk. © 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.