New Valve Can Be Put In Without Surgery

People too frail for heart valve surgery may have another option, researchers say. A new study found that a new aortic valve can be put in place using a thin tube threaded through an artery. The old valve is propped open and the new one is wedged into the opening. The study included 358 people with a diseased aortic valve. They were judged to be too sick to have open-heart surgery to get an artificial valve. People were randomly assigned to receive the new “transcatheter” valve or just comfort care. Within a month, 5% of those with the new valve died, compared with 2.8% of the others. Within a year, about 30% of those with the new valve died. But the one-year death rate was higher, 50%, for those who did not get a valve. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. plans to seek approval to market the valve in the United States. The study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.