Latest Advances in Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement

Valvular Heart Disease in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Valvular heart disease pathologies are commonly encountered in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU). Clinical presentations may range from an acute pathology of the aortic or mitral valve necessitating emergency intervention to a more subtle decompensation of longstanding valvular disease. With growing numbers of transcatheter valvular interventions, CICU providers must recognize and manage common complications after transcatheter aortic, mitral, and tricuspid interventions. In addition, prosthetic valve dysfunction should always be excluded in a CICU patient presenting with an acute cardiopulmonary decompensation. Multidisciplinary valve teams can assist with challenging valvular pathologies to determine candidacy for potential interventions.

Structural Interventions in Heart Failure: Mending a Broken Heart

Advanced heart failure is often accompanied by perturbations in cardiac chamber or valve geometries which result in worsening cardiac function and hemodynamics. Once limited to surgical procedures, recent developments in minimally invasive percutaneous techniques have demonstrated efficacy in patients with both reduced and preserved ejection fraction who are at an elevated surgical risk for perioperative events. This review highlights a subset of the interventions available in clinical practice or in development for the treatment of these valvular and structural alterations.