TY - JOUR T1 - At 5 years, transcatheter aortic valve replacement had similar rates of mortality and stroke as surgical aortic valve replacement in high-risk patients JF - Evidence Based Medicine JO - Evid Based Med SP - 212 LP - 213 DO - 10.1136/ebmed-2015-110216 VL - 20 IS - 6 AU - Michael J Reardon AU - Neal S Kleiman Y1 - 2015/12/01 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/20/6/212.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Kapadia SR, Leon MB, Makkar RR, et al., PARTNER trial investigators. 5-year outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement compared with standard treatment for patients with inoperable aortic stenosis (PARTNER 1): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2015;385:2485–91 and Mack MJ, Leon MB, Smith CR, et al., PARTNER 1 trial investigators. 5-year outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement or surgical aortic valve replacement for high surgical risk patients with aortic stenosis (PARTNER1): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2015;385:2477–84.OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWhen calcific aortic stenosis is associated with symptoms, particularly congestive heart failure, it is also associated with a risk of death when not corrected surgically. Unfortunately, the frequency of the disease increases with age and patients who are most likely to have it are those who are at highest risk for open cardiac surgery. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is an emerging treatment that is considerably less invasive than surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). The PARTNER investigators compared TAVR to conservative medical therapy in patients who were not candidates for SAVR (Kapadia and colleagues) and compared TAVR to SAVR in patients who were at high risk for SAVR (Mack and colleagues).Two studies were performed as part of the PARTNER programme. Inclusion criteria were identical with the exception of perceived surgical risk. In Kapadia and colleagues study, two cardiovascular surgeons and an interventional cardiologist had to agree that … ER -