NEW HAVEN: In the first multicenter trial of its kind, researchers tested a new device that lowers the risk of stroke and cognitive decline in patients undergoing heart-valve replacement.
Stroke is a devastating complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a minimally invasive procedure to repair a damaged heart valve without surgery. Up to 7% of TAVR patients suffer strokes due to the release of emboli, or particulate material such as a plaque, that travel in the blood from the heart to the brain during the valve procedure…