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Background Degenerative aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease in the elderly, and many patients are not suitable for aortic valve replacement surgery. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a new therapeutic option for selected patients at high risk for surgery. Aim To evaluate the safety and efficacy of TAVI in Australian patients. Methods This is a prospective study of patients undergoing TAVI for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia between August 2008 and July 2013. Patients were at high risk of surgical aortic valve replacement, or inoperable, as deemed by a multidisciplinary 'heart team'. Outcomes include procedural success and complications, 30-day and 1-year mortality and stroke, combined end-points as outlined by the Valve Academic Research Consortium 2 consensus document. Results Two hundred and nine patients underwent TAVI during the study period. The mean age was 83.7 ± 6.7 years, and 101 (48%) were men. The valve systems utilised were as follows: Edwards-SAPIEN valve in 104 (49.5%), Medtronic CoreValve in 86 (41.2%) and Boston Scientific Lotus valve in 19 (9.3%) patients. Thirty-day and 1-year mortality rates were 5.7% and 11.5% respectively. Thirty-day and 1-year stroke rates were 4.3% and 6.2% respectively. The composite end-points of device success, early safety and clinical efficacy occurred in 80.4%, 27.3% and 68.4%. Conclusions TAVI with various valve systems, delivered through several approaches, is feasible in high surgical risk and inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis, with acceptable outcomes at short-term and intermediate-term follow up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Anomalous origin of the left anterior descending artery from the pulmonary artery" is presented.

The article describes the case of a 64-year-old-man presented with an anterior wall non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. The authors reveal that the patient's echocardiogram depicted apical akinesia. He then underwent coronary angiography which indicated a blocked saphenous vein graft to the distal left anterior descending coronary artery.