Acute Kidney Injury in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Introduction Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been established as a standard of care for patients with severe aortic stenosis. We aim to study the predictors of acute kidney injury (AKI) after TAVR from a contemporary analysis using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. Methods We performed a national analysis using the NIS database to evaluate predictors of acute kidney injury (AKI) after TAVR. Our study period was from 2015 to 2018, and we identified TAVR patients in all procedure fields. Patients aged less than 18 years were excluded from the study. Results We report data of 173,760 TAVR patients, of which 20,045 (11.5%) had AKI and 153,715 (88.4%) did not. There were three principal findings of our study. First, mortality was higher in patients with AKI compared to patients who did not have AKI (8% vs. 0.8%; p<0.01). Second, patients with chronic kidney disease, weight loss, liver disease, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, metastatic cancer, and peripheral vascular disease had higher adjusted odds of AKI. Third, length of stay and cost of stay were significantly higher in patients who had AKI during the index admission.  Conclusion Patients with AKI had higher in-hospital mortality. We also report that at baseline, chronic kidney disease, weight loss, liver disease, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, metastatic cancer, and peripheral vascular disease were important predictors of AKI in patients after TAVR. Length of stay and cost of stay were higher with AKI, which result in higher burden on the health care system due to increased resource utilization.

An Analysis of the Predictors of Major Bleeding After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Transplantation Using the National Inpatient Sample (2015-2018).

Background Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is now a common procedure to treat and improve quality of life, clinical outcomes, and self-sufficiency in high-risk patients with aortic stenosis, and its use has been expanding rapidly in younger and low-risk populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes, trends, and predictors of major bleeding in patients undergoing TAVR. Methodology We utilized the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from the year 2015 to 2018. International Classification of Disease 10 codes were utilized to extract data. Baseline characteristics were compared using Pearson's chi-square test for categorical variables and independent samples t-test for continuous variables. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to evaluate the predictors of major bleeding. Propensity matching was done for adjusted analysis to compare outcomes in TAVR with and without major bleeding. The outcomes of interest in this study were (1) predictors of major bleeding after TAVR; (2) in-hospital mortality; and (3) resource utilization in terms of cost and length of stay. Results A total of 34,752 weighted hospitalizations for TAVR were included in the analysis. Of the patients undergoing the procedure, 2,294 (6.6%) had a major bleed while 32,458 (93.3%) did not. At baseline, patients with coagulopathy (odds ratio [OR]: 2.03; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.82-2.27), congestive heart failure (OR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.13-1.40), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.29-1.55), liver disease (OR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.61-2.39), peripheral vascular disease (OR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.17-1.43), cerebrovascular disease (OR: 1.22; 95% CI: 1.07-1.38), end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (OR: 2.17; 95% CI: 1.82-2.59), and coronary artery disease (OR: 1.17; 95% Cl: 1.06-1.30) had higher adjusted rates of odds of major bleeding. Patients who had major bleeding had a higher median cost of stay (US$60,326 vs. US$45490) and length of stay (seven vs. three days). Conclusions Mortality is higher in patients with major bleeding, and at baseline, coagulopathy and ESRD are significant predictors of a major bleed in patients undergoing TAVR.

Splenic artery aneurysm rupture in pregnancy.

Rupture of a splenic artery aneurysm, commonly associated with pregnancy is a rare and catastrophic event. We report here a case of a patient in her second pregnancy who presented with a short history of left hypochondriac and epigastric pain, followed by collapse at 32 weeks gestation. Sudden fetal distress lead to emergency caesarean delivery when splenic artery aneurysm rupture was diagnosed. With timely involvement of multidisciplinary personnel both mother and baby survived and had an uneventful recovery.