For the invasive treatment of symptomatic aortic stenosis several attractive options became available beyond conventional cardiosurgical implantation of stented bioprostheses or mechanical valves. Besides stentless prostheses, in particular transcatheter procedures are of growing importance. Nevertheless the number of implanted stented bioprostheses in Germany expanded or at least remained stable over the last years. Thus, 9.704 bioprostheses were implanted in Germany in 2010, according to 84% of all implanted prostheses in aortic position [1]. This proportion has dramatically switched in favor of bioprostheses during the last 15 years. Implantation of bioprostheses was associated with a 30-day-mortality of 3,3 %, which is higher than for mechanical valves (1,5%) due to the fact that patients for bioprostheses are significantly older or suffer from more complex co-morbidities [2]. The purpose of this review is to summarize the features of the currently available bioprostheses in the light of competing procedures.
展开▼
