Whilst the worldwide uptake of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) over the last 10 years has been dramatic, iliac tortuosity remains a potential barrier to the most commonly chosen access route via the femoral artery. We describe the challenges posed by severe iliac tortuosity during transfemoral TAVI and contrast a difficult procedure - at the limit of the capability of current device delivery technology - with a straightforward implantation. The use of pre-procedural multi-detector computed tomography to assess the vasculature and a bilateral stiff wire technique for managing iliofemoral tortuosity are discussed.
Keywords: Iliac tortuosity; MDCT; SAPIEN 3; TAVI.
Copyright © 2017 Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.