A newer incarnation of the Sapien transcatheter heart valve may lower the risk of major vascular complications compared with the first-generation device. Although the overall short-term performance was similar between patients on both the Sapien THV and the newer Sapien XT, patients with the XT had significantly fewer major vascular events (11.1% versus 33.3%, P=0.004), according to Antonio Colombo, MD, of San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, and colleagues. They reported their findings in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.
