Transcatheter aortic valve implantation in very elderly patients： immediate results and medium term follow-up

Objective To evaluate immediate transcatheter aortic valve implantation （TAVI） results and medium-term follow-up in very elderly pa- tients with severe and symptomatic aortic stenosis （AS）. Methods This multicenter, observational and prospective study was carried out in three hospitals. We included consecutive very elderly （〉 85 years） patients with severe AS treated by TAVI. The primary endpoint was to evaluate death rotes from any cause at two years. Results The study included 160 consecutive patients with a mean age of 87 ± 2.1 years （range from 85 to 94 years） and a mean logistic EuroSCORE of 18.8% ± 11.2% with 57 （35.6%） patients scoring 〉 20%. Procedural success rate was 97.5%, with 25 （15.6%） patients experiencing acute complications with major bleeding （the most frequent）. Global mortality rate during hospitalization was 8.8% （n = 14） and 30-day mortality rate was 10% （n = 16）. Median follow up period was 252.24± 232.17 days. During the follow-up period, 28 （17.5%） patients died （17 of them due to cardiac causes）. The estimated two year overall and cardiac survival rates using the Kaplan-Meier method were 71% and 86.4%, respectively. Cox proportional hazard regression showed that the variable EuroSCORE ≥ 20 was the unique vari- able associated with overall mortality. Conclusions TAVI is safe and effective in a selected population of very elderly patients. Our findings support the adoption of this new procedure in this complex group of patients.

Endoscopic ultrasound elastography for malignant pancreatic masses and associated lymph nodes:Critical evaluation of strain ratio cutoff value

BACKGROUND Endoscopic ultrasound(EUS)can detect small lesions throughout the digestive tract;however,it remains challenging to accurately identify malignancies with this approach.EUS elastography measures tissue hardness,by which malignant and nonmalignant pancreatic masses(PMs)and lymph nodes(LNs)can be differentiated.However,there is currently little information regarding the strain ratio(SR)cutoff in Hispanic populations.AIM To determine the diagnostic accuracy of EUS elastography for PMs and LNs with an SR cutoff value in Hispanics.METHODS A retrospective study of patients who underwent EUS elastography for PMs between December 2013 and December 2014.A qualitative(analysis of color maps)and quantitative(SR)analysis of PMs and their associated LNs was performed.The accuracy of EUS elastography in identifying malignant PMs and LNs and cutoff value for SR were analyzed.A PM and/or its associated LNs were considered malignant based on histopathological findings from fine-needle aspiration biopsy samples.RESULTS A sample of 121 patients was included,45.4%of whom were female.69(57.0%)PMs were histologically malignant,with a median SR of 50.4 vs 33.0 for malignant vs nonmalignant masses(P<0.001).EUS evaluation identified associated LNs in 43/121 patients(35.5%),in whom 22/43(51.2%)patients had histologically confirmed malignant diagnosis,with a median SR of 30 vs 40 for malignant vs nonmalignant LNs(P=0.7182).In detecting malignancy in PMs,an SR cutoff value of>21.5 yielded a sensitivity of 94.2%,while a cutoff value of>121 yielded a specificity of 96.2.2%.There were significant differences in the Giovannini scores,a previously established elastic score system,between the patients grouped by their final histology results(P<0.001).For LNs,SR cutoff values of>14.0 and>155 yielded a sensitivity of 90.9%and a specificity of 95.2%,respectively,in detecting malignancy.CONCLUSION EUS elastography is a helpful technique for the diagnosis of solid PMs and their associated LNs.The proposed SR cutoff values have a high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of malignancy.