Aortic Stenosis Under Pressure: Decoding Low-Gradient Risk Profiles | JACC Baran

Hosts Mitsuaki Sawano, MD, co-host Shun Kohsaka, MD, and Nobuhiro Ikemura, MD, welcome Tomohiko Taniguchi, MD, from Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, to discuss findings from the CURRENT AS Registry-2 on low-gradient severe aortic stenosis (AS). Based on data from over 3,300 patients across 21 Japanese centers, the study categorized AS into four hemodynamic subtypes, revealing that low-gradient AS with reduced LVEF had the poorest prognosis, paradoxical LFLG AS was associated with high rates of atrial fibrillation and advanced cardiac damage despite low valve calcification, and normal-flow LG AS frequently exceeded guideline-based calcification thresholds despite being labeled as moderate. Dr. Taniguchi emphasizes the need to revise conventional illustrations of AS subtypes by incorporating cardiac damage and frailty and underscores the importance of proper statistical interpretation in subgroup analyses.