News Archive

Results of the PARTNER II SAPIEN 3 Trial Presented at TCT 2015

SAN FRANCISCO – October 15, 2015 – One-year patient outcomes from the PARTNER II trial showed that the low rate of 30-day complications with balloon-expandable transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in high-risk and inoperable patients with aortic stenosis persisted with follow up to one year.

One-year findings from the PARTNER II SAPIEN 3 study were presented today at the 27^th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world’s premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

The initial PARTNER I trial demonstrated the early promise of TAVR with first generation devices for high-risk (HR) and inoperable (INOP) patients. The PARTNER II SAPIEN 3 trial was a two single arm, non-randomized, historical-controlled study that utilizes the newest generation balloon-expandable TAVR device. Thirty-day outcomes, which were reported earlier this year at the ACC, demonstrated very low rates of adverse events. The newest findings presented at TCT report results for the HR/INOP arm at one year.

The HR/INOP cohort of PARTNER II enrolled 583 patients at 29 US sites with severe aortic stenosis who were deemed high-risk or inoperable for surgery. The follow-up rate at one year was 98.6% and the all-cause survival rate was 85.6%.  Survival was 87.7% for transfemoral (TF) access procedures and, 89.3% for high risk patients treated by the TF route. The study also found that there was a low rate of disabling stokes at one year (2.4%) with no difference between HR and INOP or TF and TA.

Paravalvular aortic regurgitation also remained low with 2.7% with moderate regurgitation and 29.1% with mild regurgitation at one year.  Importantly, there was no increased mortality in the patients with mild regurgitation as compared to those with none or mild and no patient had severe regurgitation. Hemodynamic valve performance and early symptomatic improvement were also sustained at one year.

“The combination of new design features, procedural improvements, operator experience, and improved patient selection have all contributed to a low rate of adverse events and a high rate of one-year survival in TAVR for high-risk and inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis,” said study investigator, Howard C. Herrmann, MD.  “This represents a 50% reduction in mortality in both HR and INOP patients as compared with the first generation TAVR device.”  Dr. Herrmann is the John Winthrop Bryfogle Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases and director of Penn Medicine’s Interventional Cardiology Program in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

“This one-year follow-up data support the use of TAVR as the preferred therapy in high-risk and inoperable patients with aortic stenosis.”

The PARTNER II SAPIEN 3 trial was funded by Edwards Lifesciences. Dr. Herrmann reports grant/research support from Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, Cardiokinetx, Edwards Lifesciences, Gore, Medtronic, Mitraspan, Siemens, and St. Jude Medical. He also reported equity in MicroInterventional Devices, and speaking honoraria from Edwards Lifesciences.