Abstract
Severe calcific aortic stenosis (AS) is a progressive cardiac disease that predominantly affects elderly adults. The hallmark symptoms of AS include exertional dyspnea, angina, and syncope. Adults of advanced age do not usually seek treatment for symptoms until their quality of life is greatly diminished. The 2 standard treatments for severe AS are open aortic valve replacement and percutaneous valvuloplasty. As adults age, their comorbid medical conditions often make them too high of a surgical risk for traditional aortic valve replacement, and percutaneous valvuloplasty, although less invasive, often produces only temporary relief of AS symptoms. To provide severe AS patients with alternative less risky treatment options in their later years, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) devices were developed. Through this overview of the disease progression of AS and the different TAVI devices and the insertion procedures, a better understanding of the initial postoperative nursing care associated with postoperative TAVI patient management will be achieved.