Edwards Presents Studies of Rapid Diagnosis and Referral in Severe Aortic Stenosis

April 8, 2025—Edwards Lifesciences recently announced the presentation of new data from studies addressing the critical needs of patients with structural heart disease. The company stated that the findings demonstrated the importance of urgently referring patients to a heart team for evaluation once they have been diagnosed.

The studies were presented at ACC.25, the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific session held March 29-31 in Chicago, Illinois.

The data included findings from the randomized, controlled DETECT AS study that evaluated the impact of automatic electronic provider notifications (echo alerts) for patients with severe AS. The results were simultaneously published by Varsha Keelara Tanguturi, MD, et al in Circulation.

According to Edwards, this trial involved 939 patients and 285 physicians. Those patients who were ordered an echo for severe aortic stenosis (AS) were randomized to either receive an echo alert describing treatment guidelines or no notification.

As summarized by the company, the findings revealed echo alerts increased aortic valve replacement (AVR) treatment rates by 11% for all patients with severe AS, and 14% for patients with symptomatic severe AS. Echo alerts also significantly improved AVR treatment rates among older patients and women, thereby reducing age and gender disparities

Also presented at ACC, insights from the EARLY TAVR trial demonstrated that asymptomatic severe AS patients randomized to Edwards’ transcatheter AVR (TAVR) system experienced superior outcomes compared with guideline-recommended clinical surveillance (watchful waiting), with no clinical penalty for timely intervention.

The company noted that EARLY TAVR was a randomized, controlled pivotal study designed to determine the best strategy for treating asymptomatic severe AS and the benefits of timely intervention with TAVR. The data were published by Philippe Généreux, MD, et al in The New England Journal of Medicine (2025;392:217-227).

The new analysis presented at ACC evaluated outcomes of patients treated in the EARLY TAVR trial segmented by the severity of their signs and symptoms when they converted to AVR. These data reiterate that watchful waiting is not an effective strategy for the management of severe AS.

Finally, the company stated that it was hypothesized that cardiac biomarkers may be predictive of the best time for severe AS patients to go from watchful waiting to receiving treatment. A study presented at ACC showed that biomarkers were not predictive, further underscoring both the rapid, unpredictable progression of the disease and the urgency to refer patients to a heart team for evaluation and treatment. The results of the biomarkers study were simultaneously published by Brian R. Lindman, MD, et al in Circulation.