Commentary: There is strength in heart teams, whether or not the numbers add up

[摘要] The concept of a multidisciplinary team approach to cardiothoracic disease treatment has long been used in areas such as thoracic oncology and transplantation. More recently, this approach has extended to coronary disease and aortic stenosis based on studies such as Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery1 and randomized trials for the evaluation of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).2,3 The US4 and European5 valve guidelines now both suggest heart team evaluation as a class I recommendation for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis—but with a level of evidence C. Robust comparative studies for what intuitively makes sense; that is, approaching patient scenarios not as an individual specialty but rather as a multidisciplinary team, are lacking. As a field, we should attempt to base our recommendations on the best data available and not just expert opinion, even if that expert opinion is widely held to be true.

[学科分类] 心脏病和心血管学