Two-year outcomes for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis treated with transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an emerging technique for the treatment of severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. Little has been reported about the use of different devices and multiple catheter-based options and anesthetic techniques in the same institution. We report the long-term clinical experience in treating patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis using TAVI. We analyzed the outcomes of 153 TAVI-treated patients who were followed for ≤2 years. All patients were at very high risk of surgical valve replacement. The Medtronic-CoreValve device was used in 59.5% and the Edwards-SAPIEN device in 40.5% of the patients. The primary end point was death from any cause during follow-up. The mean ± SD patient age was 81.1 ± 6 years, and 62% of the patients were women. The procedural success rate was 97.4%. At 30 days of follow-up, the all-cause mortality was 3.9%. Two-year follow-up data were obtained for 108 patients, with 85.5% survival of treated patients. The 30-day stroke rate was 3.9%. No significant differences in mortality were found when angioplasty was performed before or during TAVI compared with TAVI alone. Multivariate analysis showed that increased baseline creatinine (hazard ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 2.42, p = 0.049) and increased logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score (hazard ratio 1.03, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.06, p = 0.048) predicted all-cause mortality. In conclusion, the clinical outcome of TAVI is favorable. The use of both procedural devices and multiple techniques in the same institution is feasible and potentially desirable.