Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Oncology Patients With Severe Aortic Stenosis

Objectives: The authors sought to collect data on contemporary practice and outcome of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in oncology patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Background: Oncology patients with severe AS are often denied valve replacement. TAVR may be an emerging treatment option. Methods: A worldwide registry was designed to collect data on patients who undergo TAVR while having active malignancy. Data from 222 cancer patients from 18 TAVR centers were compared versus 2,522 “no-cancer” patients from 5 participating centers. Propensity-score matching was performed to further adjust for bias. Results: Cancer patients’ age was 78.8 ± 7.5 years, STS score 4.9 ± 3.4%, 62% men. Most frequent cancers were gastrointestinal (22%), prostate (16%), breast (15%), hematologic (15%), and lung (11%). At the time of TAVR, 40% had stage 4 cancer. Periprocedural complications were comparable between the groups. Although 30-day mortality was similar, 1-year mortality was higher in cancer patients (15% vs. 9%; p < 0.001); one-half of the deaths were due to neoplasm. Among patients who survived 1 year after the TAVR, one-third were in remission/cured from cancer. Progressive malignancy (stage III to IV) was a strong mortality predictor (hazard ratio: 2.37; 95% confidence interval: 1.74 to 3.23; p < 0.001), whereas stage I to II cancer was not associated with higher mortality compared with no-cancer patients. Conclusions: TAVR in cancer patients is associated with similar short-term but worse long-term prognosis compared with patients without cancer. Among this cohort, mortality is largely driven by cancer, and progressive malignancy is a strong mortality predictor. Importantly, 85% of the patients were alive at 1 year, one-third were in remission/cured from cancer.