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Don't wait for things to get worse. The PROGRESS trial found that TAVR significantly reduced the risk of death or heart failure events in high-risk patients with moderate aortic stenosis compared to clinical surveillance. Experts say the results challenge the long-held view that moderate aortic stenosis is a benign condition.
For years, moderate aortic stenosis was treated as a "watch and wait" condition — but a landmark new trial is pushing back on that approach. The PROGRESS trial, presented at TCT 2026 and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that TAVR significantly outperformed clinical surveillance in high-risk patients with moderate aortic stenosis over a 2-year follow-up.
The trial randomly assigned 744 patients (mean age 78) with moderate aortic stenosis and at least one at-risk feature to receive TAVR (using the Sapien 3 balloon-expandable valve) or surveillance. The results were clear: TAVR cut the combined risk of death or heart failure events by a meaningful margin, driven largely by fewer heart failure hospitalizations.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: These findings reframe moderate aortic stenosis as a condition that warrants earlier, more proactive intervention — especially in high-risk patients. With over half of surveillance patients eventually needing TAVR anyway, the data make a compelling case for not waiting until disease progresses to severe.
