Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is an option to treat aortic valve stenosis or failure of a surgically implanted tissue valve. Sometimes TAVR displaces the diseased aortic valve leaflets outwards, causing life-threatening obstruction of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. This is more common in surgically implanted tissue valves that are designed to achieve the largest aortic valve orifice area. Despite attempts to protect the coronary arteries from obstruction in these patients using coronary stents, the mortality of TAVR-associated coronary artery obstruction remains prohibitively high.
The investigators have developed and tested a technique to tear the existing aortic valve leaflet and enable TAVR in such patients. The procedure is called Bioprosthetic or native Aortic Scallop Intentional Laceration to prevent Iatrogenic Coronary Artery obstruction (BASILICA).
The purpose of this study is to perform BASILICA in patients who have no good options to prevent coronary artery obstruction during TAVR.
