Aims and expectations of a prospective multicenter study on aortic valve surgery: (E-AVR registry)

Background: Treatment of severe aortic valve stenosis (SAVS) is a hot topic due to improved life expectancy of general population, improvement of diagnostic tools, and consequent increased number of patients requiring aortic valve surgery. Traditional aortic valve replacement and recent transcatheter aortic prosthesis implantation have reported comparable or non-inferior mortality in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). However, RCTs have the limitation of the predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria, and cannot completely reflect the ‘real clinical world’. Recently sutureless prostheses, often implanted via minimally invasive approaches, have been reported as an alternative strategy. However, their definitive impact on clinical results is not yet completely evaluated because of the limited sample size of patients population of most of published studies, based on monocentric patients series. Methods: The aim of this prospective multicentre registry including all patients referred for aortic valve surgery and treated with all available techniques is to obtain a ‘real-world’ scenario of the clinical results arising from current surgical options. Results: The research protocol enrollment phase is ongoing. Therefore we have not yet results to publish. When available, the research findings deriving from E-AVR registry will be presented in the scientific community in international congresses and published in peer review international journals in the fields of cardiac surgery and cardiology. Conclusions: This multicenter, prospective, European registry has been designed with the aim to cast light on a lot of controversial issues, particularly those regarding the impact of patient baseline risk factors as well as treatment methods for SAVR, with or without coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), on the prognosis after treatment. We believe that the information derived from this registry can provide deep knowledge on the causes that lead to adverse outcomes after SAVR, to avoid them, and finally to identify the best treatment option for SAVS for each patient.