Minimally invasive versus full sternotomy aortic valve replacement in low-risk patients: Which will stand against transcatheter aortic valve replacement?

In low-risk patients, minimally invasive aortic valve replacement results in similar mortality, stroke, reoperation rates for bleeding, and midterm survival (after adjusting for confounders), but shorter hospital length of stay and a trend (P = .075) toward shorter intensive care unit stay, compared to full sternotomy aortic valve replacement. Therefore, minimally invasive aortic valve replacement should stand as a benchmark against transcatheter aortic valve replacement in these patients.