TAVR for Aortic Regurgitation Under TEE Guidance

Plain-language summary

Under contemporary practice, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is typically performed with fluoroscopic visualization and repeated injections of iodinated contrast. While effective, this paradigm introduces cumulative radiation exposure to both patients and staff and can be problematic in individuals with renal dysfunction, prior contrast reactions, or other situations where contrast use is undesirable. Treating native aortic regurgitation (AR) adds another layer of complexity: limited valvular/annular calcification, enlarged annular dimensions, and dynamic root motion may reduce frictional "purchase" and make prosthesis stabilization more demanding, thereby heightening the need for continuous, high-fidelity intraprocedural imaging. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), with its close acoustic window to the aortic root, provides detailed real-time information on annular geometry, cusp coaptation, LVOT-aortic root alignment, guidewire trajectory, and implant depth, and it allows immediate confirmation of valve function and rapid recognition of adverse events (e.g., significant paravalvular regurgitation, maldeployment, pericardial effusion, or coronary compromise). Leveraging TEE as the dominant imaging modality therefore represents a pragmatic pathway toward a low-radiation and potentially contrast-sparing-or in selected cases, contrast-free-TAVR workflow. Nevertheless, evidence supporting an "echo-only" TEE-guided approach remains sparse, especially for native AR. In this study, we present a standardized TEE-guided procedural protocol and report feasibility and early clinical outcomes of TEE-only TAVR in patients with aortic regurgitation.

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