Balloon-expandable versus self-expandable valves in transcatheter aortic valve implantation: Complications and outcomes from a large international patient cohort

background: both balloon-expandable (BE) and self-expandable (SE) valves for tran-scatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) are broadly used in clinical practice. However, adequately powered randomized controlled trials comparing these two valve designs are lacking. methods: The CENTER-study included 12,381 patients undergoing transfemoral TAVI. patients undergoing TAVI with a BE-valve (n = 4096) were compared to patients undergoing TAVI with an SE-valve (n = 4096) after propensity score matching. clinical outcomes including one-year mortality and stroke rates were assessed. results: In the matched population of n = 5410 patients, the mean age was 81 ± 3 years, 60% was female, and the STS-PROM predicted 30-day mortality was 6.2% (IQR 4.0–12.4). one-year mortality was not different between patients treated with BE-or SE-valves (BE: 16.4% vs. SE: 17.0%, relative risk 1.04, 95%CI 0.02–1.21, p = 0.57). one-year stroke rates were also comparable (BE: 4.9% vs. SE: 5.3%, RR 1.09, 95%CI 0.86–1.37, p = 0.48). conclusion: this study suggests that one-year mortality and stroke rates were comparable in patients with severe aortic valve stenosis undergoing TAVI with either BE or SE-valves.