[Balloon aortic valvuloplasty and transcatheter valve implantation in a patient with unicuspid aortic valve and cardiogenic shock due to severe aortic stenosis]

Abstract

We report a case of cardiogenic shock due to severe aortic stenosis in a 55-year-old patient with a congenital unicuspid aortic valve (UAV). An emergent aortic valvuloplasty was performed in the spoke catheterization laboratory which allowed to achieve transient stabilization of the hemodynamic parameters and to move the patient to the nearest hub hospital with on-site cardiac surgery. Since the surgical risk of an aortic valve replacement was deemed too high, a transcatheter procedure was performed with implantation of a self-expandable prosthesis. The final result was suboptimal due to a moderate residual paravalvular leak, but the patient experienced rapid recovery and was discharged 10 days after the procedure. Just a few cases of transcatheter aortic valve replacement due to severe aortic stenosis in UAV have been described but, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first one in a clinical setting of cardiogenic shock. Although the gold standard treatment for UAV is surgical intervention, this case demonstrates that the transcatheter procedure is feasible and may play a role as a bridge to definitive surgical replacement.