Thirty-day Clinical Outcomes of the Evolut PRO Self-Expanding Transcatheter Aortic Valve: The International FORWARD PRO Study.

AIMS The Evolut PRO is a new transcatheter heart valve with an outer pericardial wrap intended to reduce paravalvular leak and facilitate tissue ingrowth. We evaluated clinical performance and safety of the Evolut PRO valve in standard practice. METHODS AND RESULTS FORWARD PRO is a prospective, multinational, multicenter observational study. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the Evolut PRO valve (23-, 26-, or 29-mm) was attempted in 629 non-consecutive patients from 39 centers from February 2018 to January 2019. The primary endpoint was the rate of all-cause mortality at 30 days compared to a prespecified performance goal. An independent Clinical Events Committee adjudicated safety endpoints based on VARC-2 definitions. All echocardiograms were centrally assessed by an independent core laboratory (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN). Baseline characteristics include mean age 81.7±6.1 years, 61.8% female, STS score 4.7%±3.3%, and 33.6% were frail. All-cause mortality at 30 days was 3.2% was lower than the prespecified performance goal of 5.5% (p=0.004). Greater than mild AR was present in 1.8% of patients at discharge. CONCLUSIONS The FORWARD PRO study confirmed the safety and efficacy of the Evolut PRO transcatheter aortic valve system with an external pericardial wrap.