A Randomized Multicenter Trial of Minimally Invasive Rapid Deployment Versus Conventional Full Sternotomy Aortic Valve Replacement [1]
This study randomized 100 patients with AS to full sternotomy AVR with a conventional prothesis or hemisternotomy with a rapid deployment prosthesis. CPB times were similar, but Ao crossclamp times were 24% shorter in the rapid deployment group. Acute outcomes were similar. The rapid deployment group had a lower transvalvular gradient and a lower prevalence of prosthesis mismatch at 3 months.