A Randomized Multicenter Trial of Minimally Invasive Rapid Deployment Versus Conventional Full Sternotomy Aortic Valve Replacement

This study randomized 100 patients with AS to full sternotomy AVR with a conventional prothesis or hemisternotomy with a rapid deployment prosthesis.  CPB times were similar, but Ao crossclamp times were 24% shorter in the rapid deployment group.  Acute outcomes were similar.  The rapid deployment group had a lower transvalvular gradient and a lower prevalence of prosthesis mismatch at 3 months.