Treatment of aortic valve disease with "transcatheter" techniques. Current vision and future perspectives

Conventional aortic valve replacement is the reference treatment for the aortic valve pathology. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation has emerged in recent years as alternative for high-risk patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis. The indications of these procedures through the transfemoral or transapical routes are based on a high rating on the different risk scores. Short-term results have shown a periprocedrual success over 90% and hospital mortality lower than the predicted by the scores. However, many questions must be answered about these techniques during the next years like long-term durability and their superiority compared with conventional treatment.