Percutaneous implantation of the corevalve aortic valve prosthesis for patients presenting high risk for surgical valve replacement.

Introduction Today’s standard practice of care for heart valve replacement requires open-heart surgery. Nevertheless current population with aortic valve disease is both older and has a higher incidence of associated cardiovascular or non-cardiovascular disease increasing the risk of conventionnal surgery. Percutaneous endovascular therapies widely used in the treatment of coronary artery disease is still at a very early stage in the treatment of valve disease with few patients having recently experienced percutaneous or mini-invasive aortic valve replacement1,3. Corevalve has developed a system called “CoreValve ReValvingTM System” (CRS). This system is intended for Percutaneous Aortic Valve Replacement (PAVR) on a beating heart, avoiding open-heart surgery in patients presenting high risk or recused for surgical valve replacement. The present report describes a last generation device, pre-clinical data, anatomic requirements and technique of implantation of the CoreValve Aortic Valve Prosthesis.