First trans-axillary implantation of Edwards Sapien valve to treat an incompetent aortic bioprosthesis.

There exist case reports of using transcatheter aortic valves to treat dysfunctional surgically implanted aortic bioprosthesis. There are also case series reported of transaxillary implantation of the CoreValve device to treat aortic stenosis. In this article, we report the successful implantation an Edwards Sapien 23 mm transcatheter aortic valve through the left axillary artery, in a patient with a functioning LIMA graft in order to treat a severely regurgitant Freestyle 23 mm aortic bioprosthesis.