By Caralee Adams |
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Dr. Thomas Matthew, Cardiac Surgery
A surgeon for nearly 30 years, Dr. Thomas Matthew is director of the Johns Hopkins Cardiothoracic Surgery Program at Suburban Hospital. Matthew studied electrical engineering at Harvard, earned his medical degree from Columbia University, and received a Master of Science degree in surgical research from the University of Virginia. He is also an assistant professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins and chairman of the Maryland Cardiac Surgery Quality Initiative, a consortium of 11 cardiac surgery programs in Maryland. Matthew lives in Northwest D.C. with his wife, Dayna Bowen Matthew, dean of the George Washington University Law School.
June 09, 2021
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is approved in the United States for low-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis, without an age threshold. As the authors of a new review point out, though, much is still unknown about how youth can impact outcomes and future options.
Low risk and younger age are categories that should not be conflated, they urge. “The pivotal TAVR trials in low-risk patients have, so far, demonstrated excellent clinical outcomes. However, these results should be extrapolated to younger patients with caution.”
Toby Rogers, MD, PhD (MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, and National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD), who led the paper along with Charan Yerasi, MD (MedStar Washington Hospital Center), stressed a similar point to TCTMD.