A published correction has repaired two record-keeping problems in a widely watched study of early hospital discharge after transcatheter aortic valve implantation, or TAVI, using the ACURATE Neo valve. The notice, released by Clinical Research in Cardiology on 8 June 2026, does not introduce new clinical findings or revise the trial’s conclusions. Instead, it corrects the spelling of an author’s name and restores Electronic Supplementary Material that had been referenced in the original publication but was missing from the online article. Although such changes may appear administrative, they are essential to the accuracy, discoverability and reproducibility of modern medical research, particularly for clinical studies that may influence how hospitals organize care after heart-valve procedures.
The original article, published on 15 April 2024, reported the POLESTAR trial, which examined the safety and feasibility of sending selected patients home early after TAVI with the ACURATE Neo transcatheter heart valve. TAVI is a minimally invasive procedure used primarily to treat severe aortic stenosis, a condition in which the aortic valve becomes narrowed and obstructs blood flow from the left ventricle into the aorta. During the procedure, physicians guide a collapsed replacement valve through a catheter, commonly inserted through an artery in the groin, and expand it inside the diseased native valve. The new prosthesis pushes the old leaflets aside and restores forward blood flow without requiring open-heart surgery. As the technique has become more established, attention has shifted from procedural survival to recovery time, monitoring requirements, hospital capacity and the possibility of safe discharge within a much shorter interval.
The POLESTAR study is part of that broader transformation in structural cardiology. Traditionally, patients undergoing TAVI could remain in hospital for several days while clinicians monitored heart rhythm, vascular access sites, blood pressure, valve performance and possible complications. The most important reason for observation is that conduction disturbances can develop after implantation. The aortic valve lies close to the heart’s electrical conduction system, and mechanical pressure from a transcatheter prosthesis can interfere with the signals that coordinate the heartbeat. In some patients, this may produce atrioventricular block and create a need for a permanent pacemaker. Other concerns include bleeding, vascular injury, stroke, valve dysfunction and kidney injury. Early discharge therefore depends not merely on a technically successful implantation, but also on careful patient selection, structured assessment and a reliable plan for detecting delayed complications.
The ACURATE Neo is a self-expanding transcatheter valve designed to provide controlled deployment and stable positioning within the aortic root. Like other contemporary TAVI systems, it consists of a biological tissue valve mounted on a metal frame. Once released, the frame supports the replacement leaflets and allows blood to pass from the ventricle into the aorta while limiting backward leakage. Device design can influence several clinically important outcomes, including coronary access, the degree of paravalvular regurgitation and the likelihood of affecting the conduction system. These technical details matter when considering early discharge because the acceptable observation period after implantation is closely linked to the device’s performance, the patient’s baseline electrical pattern and the results of post-procedure imaging and rhythm assessment.
The correction identifies the ninth author of the original paper as Joanna Wykrzykowska. In the first version, her surname was incorrectly printed as “Wykyrzykowska,” an error that could interfere with database indexing, citation tracking and the correct attribution of academic work. Author names are not cosmetic details in scientific publishing: they connect researchers to their institutions, previous studies, clinical expertise and professional identifiers such as ORCID records. A single misplaced sequence of letters can fragment a publication record across PubMed, Google Scholar and institutional repositories, making it more difficult for colleagues to find the work or recognize an investigator’s contribution. The corrected author list now reflects the proper spelling, with Wykrzykowska affiliated with University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands.
The second issue involved the Electronic Supplementary Material cited in the article. Supplementary files commonly contain information that is too extensive for the main manuscript, such as detailed eligibility criteria, procedural pathways, monitoring schedules, statistical definitions, additional outcome tables or technical descriptions of the intervention. In a clinical trial focused on early discharge, these materials can be particularly important because the practical meaning of “early” depends on precise timing, discharge criteria and follow-up procedures. Readers may need to know how rhythm surveillance was performed, which clinical findings prevented discharge, how adverse events were classified and what safeguards were used after patients left the hospital. The correction confirms that the referenced supplementary material was absent when the article was first published and indicates that the original article has now been corrected.
The publication is therefore best understood as a restoration of completeness rather than a change in medical guidance. The notice does not report a newly discovered complication, alter the study population or amend any numerical result. It also does not claim that every patient undergoing TAVI should be discharged early. That distinction is crucial. A feasibility study can show that a carefully selected group may leave hospital sooner under defined conditions, but it cannot automatically establish that the same pathway is safe for all patients, all hospitals or all valve systems. Decisions remain dependent on clinical stability, the absence of significant complications, electrocardiographic findings, echocardiographic assessment, local expertise and access to follow-up. The correction makes the source record more reliable, but it does not expand the indications for accelerated discharge.
The news arrives as hospitals worldwide seek ways to make TAVI more efficient without compromising safety. The procedure is increasingly offered to older adults and people with multiple medical conditions who may face substantial risks from conventional surgery. Shortening hospitalization can reduce exposure to hospital-acquired infections, limit deconditioning and improve patient comfort, while also freeing beds for other patients. Yet the pressure to move patients home quickly must be balanced against the possibility that rare but serious complications may emerge after the procedure. The most persuasive early-discharge programs therefore combine standardized protocols with individualized judgment. They may include early mobilization, vascular checks, electrocardiographic monitoring, echocardiography, medication review, education about warning signs and rapid outpatient contact. The central scientific question is not simply whether discharge can occur sooner, but whether the entire safety net surrounding discharge is robust enough to detect and manage problems in time.
The corrected POLESTAR record also illustrates how small publishing errors can become highly visible in an era of rapid online science circulation. The article is open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, meaning that researchers, clinicians, journalists and the public can read and share it while crediting the authors and source. Open access increases the reach of clinical findings, but it also raises the importance of keeping the underlying record accurate. A missing supplement can leave readers without essential methodological context, while a misspelled author name can distort the digital trail by which scientific work is discovered and evaluated. By formally correcting both errors, the journal preserves the integrity of the study’s permanent version of record and gives future readers a clearer foundation for interpreting evidence about faster recovery after transcatheter valve replacement.
Subject of Research: Early discharge after transcatheter aortic valve implantation using the ACURATE Neo transcatheter heart valve.
Article Title: Correction: Safety and feasibility of early discharge after transcatheter aortic valve implantation with ACURATE Neo—the POLESTAR trial
Article References: Ooms JF, Cornelis K, Wijeysundera HC, et al. Correction: Safety and feasibility of early discharge after transcatheter aortic valve implantation with ACURATE Neo—the POLESTAR trial. Clinical Research in Cardiology. 2026;115:1442. Original article published in 2024; 114:341–349.
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s00392-026-02959-7
Keywords: TAVI, transcatheter aortic valve implantation, ACURATE Neo, POLESTAR trial, early discharge, aortic stenosis, structural heart disease, cardiac electrophysiology, clinical research correction, open access medicine
