Initial experience with rapid deployment Edwards Intuity aortic valve

Objective: A new class of rapid deployment prostheses is now available for surgical treatment of aortic stenosis. These prostheses offer the possibility of reducing the duration of cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic clamping times, and facilitate the use of minimally invasive surgery. We present our initial experience with the Edwards Intuity valve in the context of a multicentre Foundation study. Patients and methods: Between September 2012 and February 2014, 25 Edwards Intuity valves were implanted in 26 patients (77 +/- 4.3 years; 52% male). Twenty-four (96%) were isolated aortic valve replacement; a minimally invasive approach was used on 9 patients (36%). Patients were studied at discharge, three months, and one year after surgery. Results: Implantation success rate was 96.2% (25/26). There was no hospital mortality. Mean follow-up of 11 +/- 5.54 months, cumulative survival of 96%. One patient died eleven months after surgery due to ischaemic stroke. The mean aortic clamping time was 38.2 +/- 10.1 minutes, and the mean cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time was 62.4 +/- 11.1 minutes. In the echocardiography at 3 months, the mean effective valve area was 1.70 +/- 0.42 cm(2), and 91% of patients (23/25) were in functional class I NYHA at follow-up. Conclusions: The implantation of the Edwards Intuity valve for surgical treatment of aortic stenosis has shown to be feasible, safe and effective. Times of myocardial ischaemia and extracorporeal circulation appear to be reduced compared with normal aortic valve surgery. The initial haemodynamic performance of the Edwards Intuity prosthesis is excellent. (C) 2015 Sociedad Espanola de Cirugia Toracica-Cardiovascular. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).