[Aortic Valve Stenosis: When to Treat Interventionally, when Surgically?]

The mainstay for the current treatment of severe aortic stenosis includes surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). In patients with high operative risk TAVI is established as first line therapy. New data on intermediate and low risk groups demonstrate at least non-inferiority of TAVI against SAVR, and in the near future a consistently rising number of transcatheter procedures may be anticipated. The purpose of this review is to outline the decision making process, hence to illustrate the diagnostic algorithm and to provide criteria for a differentiated approach against the background of recent data.