As he watched many older inoperable patients grow weak and die from calcific aortic stenosis in the 1980s, Alain Cribier, MD, FACC, focused on finding a solution. In 1985, he performed the first balloon aortic valvuloplasty, but soon realized its initial success would not last because of restenosis. In the 1990s, he began exploring the possibility of using a balloon-expandable valve stent to prevent restenosis and replace the diseased aortic valve. The technology of the time, though, made the procedure an imposing challenge.

After dedicating years to searching for a solution for patients with aortic stenosis, Cribier did not let this criticism get in his way. He went to his university's autopsy lab, where he placed 23-mm stents in fresh specimens of aortic stenosis so he could validate the concept of aortic valve stenting and disprove the naysayers. On April 16, 2002, that wild idea finally became a reality when Cribier and his colleagues percutaneously implanted an aortic valve bioprosthesis – the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement now known as TAVR.

Read the full article in Cardiology.