Hemodynamic Matched Comparison of the Balloon-Expandable Transcatheter Heart Valves Myval and Sapien-3 for the Treatment of Aortic Stenosis

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is recommended for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) at high to intermediate surgical risk. Despite similar mortality rates compared to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in this setting, the rate para-valvular leak (PVL) remains higher and has been associated to higher mortality even at mild degree. This is one of the major concerns to extend TAVI to low surgical risk, although the favorable results from PARTNER 3.

The presence of moderate to severe PVL after TAVI is associated to a 2- and 3- fold increase in the mortality rate at 30-day and 1-year follow-up, respectively (24-29).

Prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) adversely affects functional improvement and exercise tolerance, left ventricular (LV) mass regression, and late structural valve deterioration. Many studies have previously investigated PPM after surgical AVR suggesting the presence of this problem in more than 40% of the surgically treated patients. This rate was significantly lower with the balloon-expandable Sapien (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California), with PPM that varied from 8% to 18%, but in both cases (patients harboring TAVI and those with SAVR) the mortality rate was higher in the presence of PPM.

Under the hypothesis that there are differences in terms of transvalvular gradients and residual para-valvular leak amongst different balloon-expandable TAVI devices available in the market, the aim of the MATCH-BALL study is to compare the hemodynamic performance of two balloon-expandable TAVI devices, Sapien 3 (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA, USA) and Myval (Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., India).