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  • Editorial: The importance of RV-PA coupling assessment prior to TAVR in patients with RV dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension

    Risk stratification of patients with aortic stenosis (AS) is based on the integration of different variables including the severity of AS, the presence or absence of symptoms, and important variables such as risk scores, life expectancy, quality of life, comorbid conditions, frailty, dementia, among others [  ]. It is evident that AS is not only a disease of the aortic valve, but also of the left ventricle (LV). Thus, evaluation of both the aortic valve and the LV should occur simultaneously to improve risk stratification [  ]. Over the past decade, common echocardiographic parameters have emerged as important markers of risk in patients with severe AS, primarily because it is associated with cardiac remodeling due to increased afterload, including a compensatory gradual LV hypertrophy, impaired LV diastolic filling, which may ultimately lead to decreased LV function in some patients [  ]. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been associated with regression in LV mass index, relative wall thickness, and improvement in aortic valve flow patterns and hemodynamics. The dynamic change in aortic valve-LV relationship after TAVR leads to LV reverse remodeling and regression of LV hypertrophy, which in some series was observed in a quarter of patients [  ], it has been associated with decreased hospitalization rates, improved morbidity, and a reduction in all-cause mortality [  ].

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