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Background: The supraaortic vessel anastomosis stent bridging (SAVSTEB) technique simplifies the reattachment of the supraaortic vessels in aortic arch surgery; however, follow-up data are limited. The study aimed to investigate the stent-related performance and complications., Methods: Between February 2009 and September 2020, 112 patients underwent total arch replacement with a tetrabranched graft and using the SAVSTEB technique. Mean age was 59.3±12.7 years, and male gender prevailed. Nineteen percent of these patients had acute aortic dissection extending into the supraaortic vessels, 12% had chronically dissected vessels, and 70% had unaffected vessels. The left subclavian artery, left common carotid artery, and innominate artery were bridged in 88%, 75%, and 2%, respectively, and an aberrant right subclavian artery was bridged in 2%., Results: Total stent experience was 341 stent-years, and stent patency was found in 98%. Technical success was achieved in all but 1 case. One percent of patients had major stent thrombosis requiring reintervention. Minor stent thrombosis was found in 2%. No endoleak was found, and the number of new-onset dissections distal to the stent was 4%. Freedom from stent-related events was estimated at 89.1% ± 0.5% at 3 years. The stroke rate was 10%, with the highest incidence among nondissected vessels. The vertebral artery was overstented in 15%, and 2% of these cases were associated radiographically with stroke., Conclusions: SAVSTEB is a comparatively simple, safe, and efficacious technique to create the anastomosis between tetrabranched arch grafts and the supraaortic arteries in the short and intermediate term. Bleeding from the anastomoses, kinking, and scar-associated stenosis are negligible; however, vertebral overstenting remains a critical technical issue., (Copyright © 2022 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Heart transplantation remains the gold standard for treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure and severely reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). An increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), which is often prevalent in HFrEF patients with secondary mitral regurgitation (SMR), limits the eligibility for transplantation. Therefore, we evaluated whether transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr) improves pulmonary circulatory hemodynamics and increases the eligibility for transplantation in end-stage HFrEF patients with severe SMR., Methods: We retrospectively analysed the hemodynamics by right heart catheterization (RHC) as well as laboratory and clinical outcomes of end-stage HFrEF patients with SMR that underwent TMVr., Results: Seventeen patients (age: 55 ± 10 yrs) underwent TMVr and repeat RHC at a mean follow-up of 5.7 ± 7.9 months. TMVr decreased PVR (3.5 ± 2.2 to 2.3 ± 1.2 wood units, p = 0.02) and systolic pulmonary artery pressure (55.4 ± 15 mmHg to 45.6 ± 9.8 mmHg, p = 0.02) from baseline to follow-up, respectively, while cardiac output was increased (3.7 ± 0.9 l/min to 4.6 ± 1.3 l/min, p = 0.02). In addition, transpulmonary gradient decreased significantly (12.0 ± 7.5 mmHg to 9.7 ± 5.3 mmHg, p = 0.04). The prevalence of New York Heart Association functional class ≥III at follow-up was reduced from 88% (15/17 patients) to 47% (8/17 patients, p = 0.01). All five patients with initially too high PVR (>3.5 WU) showed a significant decrease in PVR and three of them became potential candidates for heart transplantation after TMVr., Conclusion: TMVr is associated with reduction in PVR which may increase eligibility for transplantation in some HFrEF patients with severe SMR., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest D. Braun, M. Orban and M. Nabauer received speaker honoraria from Abbott Vascular. J. Hausleiter received speaker honoraria from and serves as consultant for Abbott Vascular and Edwards Lifesciences. The other authors declare no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)