Transcatheter valve repair and replacement

Cardiac device technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace, with heart valve design and placement procedures continuing to be one of the major focus areas. Minimally or less invasive procedures to replace cardiac valves will enable an increasing number of individuals to receive this therapy, including the older and more frail individual, the adult patient with prior surgeries for repair of congenital defects, and/or an individual with previous valve replacement (valve-in-valve procedures). Transcatheter-delivered replacement valves for the four heart valves are either available on the market today or are in development. This chapter provides a brief introduction to this rapidly emerging device area, as well as general considerations related to delivering a device via catheter into the heart (e.g., percutaneous beating heart interventional procedures performed under fluoroscopic and/or echocardiographic guidance).