The acronym BASILICA stands for bioprosthetic or native aortic scallop intentional laceration to prevent iatrogenic coronary artery obstruction. In the procedure, performed immediately before TAVR, guidewires are introduced to the first traverse and then lacerate aortic leaflets threatening obstruction of a coronary artery.
For patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the intentional laceration technique of diseased valve leaflets called BASILICA is effective and reasonably safe for preventing coronary artery obstruction, according to a late-breaking study presented at CRT 2021 sponsored by MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute.
In a series of 214 patients who entered into a registry over a recent 30-month period, leaflets posing risk were effectively traversed with the technique in 95% of cases, and complication rates were reasonably low with a 30-day stroke and death rate of 3.4%, reported Jaffar M. Khan, BMBCH, PhD, a cardiovascular branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Source: Medscape