Transfemoral Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation With or Without Predilation of the Aortic Valve (EASE-IT TF)

Prior to the deployment of transcatheter heart valves (THV), balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) is often performed under rapid right ventricular pacing (burst \>180 bpm) with the induction of a functional cardiac arrest for up to 30 seconds. Aortic valve predilation aims at facilitating the crossing of the aortic annulus, accurate valve positioning and does also provide information on the anatomy of the valve complex. However, BAV has been shown to have a number of potentially detrimental effects. There is limited experience for the balloon expandable Edwards THV on the need for predilation (BAV). Experience so far has only been documented from smaller, uncontrolled case series. The investigators aim to document the incidence of several kinds of complications in a large, multicenter registry / prospective controlled cohort study to identify associations between patient related variables and outcomes.