Transcatheter Valve Replacement in Asia Pacific: Current Practice and Perspectives

Although the field of transcatheter therapies for valvular heart disease (VHD) is continuously expanding in western countries, uptake of this treatment in Asia has been slow, mainly due to the high cost of devices, need for specific training programs, and lack of specialized heart teams and dedicated structures. Moreover, anatomic considerations of the Asian population, such as smaller aorta and peripheral vessel size, high prevalence of bicuspid aortic valves, high calcium burden of stenotic aortic valve leaflets, low coronary ostia, and high prevalence of rheumatic etiology, might raise concerns about feasibility, risk of procedural complications, prosthesis durability, and long-term outcomes after transcatheter treatment of VHD. Asia Pacific and China's medical communities and manufacturer companies are setting up to address this unmet clinical need. The aim of this review is to summarize the landscape of currently available devices for transcatheter valve interventions and the clinical experience to date in China and Asian Pacific countries, with a specific focus on new, locally designed, and/or manufactured devices.