New Survey Identifies Opportunity to Improve Shared Decision Making Between Cardiologists and Heart Valve Disease Patients New findings from an American College of Cardiology's (ACC) survey revealed more than half of cardiologists (57%) believe patient preparation may...

More than five million Americans are currently impacted by heart valve disease, and 1.5 million have one of the most common forms, aortic stenosis (AS). Currently, treatment options for AS include transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a minimally invasive procedure, or a surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), also known as open heart surgery. However, more than half of cardiologists surveyed (53%) feel that their symptomatic severe AS patients are not as informed as they should be about their treatment options.

The survey drew parallels to the recent Active Living survey by patient advocacy group Heart-Valve-Surgery.com of more than 3,400 patients and caregivers, showing that both physicians and patients want to improve the doctor/patient dialogue to help create more individualized treatment plans which can lead to improved outcomes.

The CardioSurve results also suggests key factors driving treatment choices and the preparation for conversations can vary between physicians and patients:

"As a global leader in heart valve innovation, Medtronic is committed to advancing our structural heart therapies to standard of care and expanding access to patients around the world," said Nina Goodheart , president of the Structural Heart & Aortic business, which is part of the Cardiovascular Portfolio at Medtronic. "These survey results demonstrate the strong collaboration by industry, medical societies and patient advocates to improve outcomes."

ABOUT THE SURVEYS ACC CardioSurve This research was designed to develop a general understanding from U.S. cardiologists of their perceptions regarding the discussion between cardiologists and patients about the diagnosis and treatment of patients with Aortic Stenosis (AS). Email invites were sent to all 437 CardioSurve panelists – current, active US Fellows of the ACC from January 8 – February 4, 2021 . A total of 157 panelists completed the survey.

Active Living Survey These results are based on an online survey issued to the Heart-Valve-Surgery.com community in April 2020 , the world's largest educational resource and community of heart valve patients. More than 3,400 responses were received from heart valve patients and caregivers. The respondents were a 50/50 male female split with 72% over the age of 60 and 91% over the age of 50. Of the respondents, 94% identified as heart valve patients, 53% identified as aortic stenosis patients.

SOURCE Medtronic plc