Journal Information
Vol. 38. Issue 1.
Pages 69 (January 2019)
Vol. 38. Issue 1.
Pages 69 (January 2019)
Letter to the Editor
Open Access
Risk scores in heart valve surgery
Escores de risco nas cirurgias cardíacas valvares
Visits
2810
Filipa Waihrich de Oliveira
Corresponding author
fwoliveira@ucs.br

Corresponding author.
, Adriane Marines dos Santos, Ana Cláudia Moraes Mena Barreto
Fundação Universitária de Cardiologia, Instituto de Cardiologia, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
This item has received

Under a Creative Commons license
Article information
Full Text
Bibliography
Download PDF
Statistics
Full Text
Dear Editor,

We read with interest an article recently published in the Journal1 that analyzed published studies on the risk scores used to guide the decision between surgical aortic valve replacement and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with aortic stenosis. It is noteworthy that the title does not mention the main subject, aortic stenosis, but simply refers to risk scores in heart valve surgery without further detail.

On the basis of the cited studies, the author highlights the absence of improvement in quality of life or functional recovery after TAVI and calls for the creation of risk scores for this patient group.

With regard to the first point, in the pioneering randomized clinical Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves (PARTNER) trial,2 the clinical course of the TAVI group was excellent, with improvement in New York Heart Association3 functional class at one year, representing improved quality of life in these patients. Concerning the second point, it is worth highlighting the pertinent comparison between risk scores, classifying EuroSCORE II4 as having the best discriminatory power for assessing mortality risk in surgical replacement but lacking accuracy when assessing mortality risk in patients undergoing TAVI.5

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References
[1]
H.C. Carvalho.
Risk scores: are these tools imperfect, or merely complex to use?.
Rev Port Cardiol, 37 (2018), pp. 591-593
[2]
M.B. Leon, C.R. Smith, M. Mack, PARTNER Trial Investigators, et al.
Transcatheter aortic-valve implantation for aortic stenosis in patients who cannot undergo surgery.
N Engl J Med, 363 (2010), pp. 1597-1607
[3]
C.W. Yancy, M. Jessup, B. Bozkurt, et al.
2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of heart failure: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines.
J Am Coll Cardiol, 62 (2013), pp. e147-e239
[4]
P. Kala, M. Tretina, M. Poloczek, et al.
Quality of life after transcatheter aortic valve implantation and surgical replacement in high-risk elderly patients.
Biomed Pap Med Fac Univ Palacky Olomouc Czech Repub, 157 (2013), pp. 75-80
[5]
J. Carmo, R.C. Teles, S. Madeira, et al.
Comparison of multiparametric risk scores for predicting early mortality after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.
Rev Port Cardiol, 37 (2018), pp. 585-590

Please cite this article as: de Oliveira FW, dos Santos AM, Barreto ACMM. Escores de risco nas cirurgias cardíacas valvares. Rev Port Cardiol. 2019;38:69.

Copyright © 2018. Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia
Download PDF
Idiomas
Revista Portuguesa de Cardiologia (English edition)
Article options
Tools
en pt

Are you a health professional able to prescribe or dispense drugs?

Você é um profissional de saúde habilitado a prescrever ou dispensar medicamentos

By checking that you are a health professional, you are stating that you are aware and accept that the Portuguese Journal of Cardiology (RPC) is the Data Controller that processes the personal information of users of its website, with its registered office at Campo Grande, n.º 28, 13.º, 1700-093 Lisbon, telephone 217 970 685 and 217 817 630, fax 217 931 095, and email revista@spc.pt. I declare for all purposes that the information provided herein is accurate and correct.