Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Dec 26, 2017; 9(12): 853-857
Published online Dec 26, 2017. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v9.i12.853
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation operators - get involved in imaging!
Miriam Brinkert, Stefan Toggweiler
Miriam Brinkert, Stefan Toggweiler, Heart Center Lucerne, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Lucerne 6000, Switzerland
Author contributions: Brinkert M and Toggweiler S wrote this letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Stefan Toggweiler is a consultant to Boston Scientific and NVT and has received honoraria from Symetis/Boston Scientific, NVT, Edwards Lifesciences, and Medtronic Inc. Miriam Brinkert declares no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Stefan Toggweiler, MD, Heart Center Lucerne, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Spitalstrasse 16, Lucerne 6000, Switzerland. stefan.toggweiler@luks.ch
Telephone: +41-41-2052146 Fax: +41-41-2052149
Received: September 11, 2017
Peer-review started: September 12, 2017
First decision: September 25, 2017
Revised: October 21, 2017
Accepted: November 8, 2017
Article in press: November 8, 2017
Published online: December 26, 2017
Abstract

Pre-procedural planning is the key element of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Multislice computed tomography of the chest, abdomen and pelvis with the ability to perform a 3-dimensional reconstruction has become the cornerstone of pre-procedural planning. We would like to encourage TAVI operators (interventional cardiologist and surgeons) to get involved in imaging. All TAVI operators should know how to assess the annulus, the annular root, and the iliofemoral access. We strongly believe that this will improve outcomes of this evolving procedure.

Keywords: Aortic stenosis, Transcatheter aortic valve implantation, Transcatheter aortic valve replacement, Imaging, Computed tomography

Core tip: We have noticed that only a minority of interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons routinely look at their patients MDCTs and know how to perform a three dimensional multiplanar reconstruction. With this editorial, we would like to encourage all transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) operators to get involved in cardiac imaging. We do believe that this will improve outcomes. In case a complication occurs, TAVI operators will be more likely to understand the nature of the complication and learn from it. And this again will lead to improved outcomes in future.