Transcatheter aortic valve implantation: how to decrease post-operative complications.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a therapeutic option widely used for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis in the elderly. Careful pre-procedural screening, operator experience, and technological innovations, accounted for a safe, reliable, and standardized procedure. To further decrease post-operative complications, few steps are important: careful planning of the procedure by the Heart Team, clinical and diagnostic evaluation including electrocardiogram, echography, and computed tomography of the heart and great vessels. This approach will allow a selection of ideal candidates for the procedure, the best vascular approach, the selection of patients candidates for early discharge, and last but not least, simplification of the TAVI procedure. Although the procedure is reaching the 'simplicity' of coronary interventions, it should always be kept in mind the possibility, albeit remote, that life-threatening complication could ensue, requiring the prompt intervention of the cardiovascular surgeon.

Update on clinical evidence (Part II): A summary of the main post market studies.

Bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS, Absorb, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA) received the CE mark in October 2011, and were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July 2016. After their introduction in clinical practice a broad amount of post-marketing clinical experience with BVS has been generated so far in Europe and outside the United States. The available BVS registries differ in many aspects, including their being single-center or multicenter, single-arm or controlled, sponsored or investigator-initiated, published or presented at a large-scale international meeting. This article provides an overview of clinical results of the main post-marketing studies of BVS available. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Anatomical features and management of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds failure: A case series from the GHOST registry.

The Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold (Absorb BVS, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California) promises to address some of the residual shortcomings of existing metallic stents, such as late events induced by permanent caging of the coronary vessel. Scaffold restenosis (ScR) of BVS has been poorly described so far and treatment strategies for this event remain to be codified. We report on a case series of 14 lesions in 12 patients presenting with ScR and discuss their anatomical features and management strategies. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

New insights on acute expansion and longitudinal elongation of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds in vivo and at bench test: a note of caution on reliance to compliance charts and nominal length.

OBJECTIVES: We performed systematic optical coherence tomography (OCT) analyses after bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) implantation in a "real world" setting aiming at evaluating scaffold expansion and longitudinal integrity. BACKGROUND: a comprehensive elucidation of BVS acute performance in the "real-world" setting is lacking. METHODS: acute BVS expansion compared with compliance chart information and longitudinal integrity were assessed in 29 patients (32 lesions) by OCT. In addition, bench experiments with four scaffolds were performed with different combinations of deployment pressures and tube stiffness. RESULTS: scaffold underexpansion, using compliance chart information as reference, was observed in 97% of OCT cross-sections in vivo; however, only 8.3% of the cross-section analyzed revealed BVS area <5 mm(2) . Calcified plaques were more common in the lowest (9.7%) compared with the mid (8.8%) and highest (6.3%) tertiles of scaffold expansion (P = 0.003 and P = 0.001 for lowest vs. mid, and lowest vs. highest, respectively). Seventeen (54.8%) scaffolds were elongated during implantation, but no signs of scaffold fracture were revealed. Elongation and impaired expansion were reproduced in the bench testing when the scaffold was deployed with high pressure in a hard tube. CONCLUSIONS: compliance chart information should not be used to predict final BVS dimensions in the clinical setting. While BVS expansion could be potentially impaired by calcified plaques, they may elongate during deployment. Bench experiments confirmed the elongation phenomenon when BVS were deployed with high pressure in hard tubes.

The SYNTAX score does not predict presence of carotid disease in a multivessel coronary disease population.

BACKGROUND: Numerous reports have shown the relationship between carotid artery atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the association between complex CAD evaluated by SYNTAX score (SxScore) and prevalence of carotid lesion (CL) has not been fully investigated. We sought to assess the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with multivessel CAD assessed by SxScore and the relationship between SxScore severity and features of carotid atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Subjects were 204 consecutive patients with multivessel CAD assessed by coronary angiography and no previous history of carotid atherosclerosis that underwent carotid ultrasound scan from June 2012 to 2013. Presence of CL, significant carotid disease (SCD) and carotid plaque morphology was evaluated. At least one CL was found in 159 patients (77.9%) with no significant difference among SxScore groups (P = 0.20 and P = 0.54, respectively). High prevalence of complex carotid plaque (CCP) was found without significant different distribution in SxScore groups (P = 0.69). Age was independently associated with the presence of CL [odds ratio (OR) 1.055; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.015-1.097; P = 0.007] and SCD (OR 1.057; 95% CI: 1.008-1.097; P = 0.019). Age and diabetes were independently associated with CCP (OR 1.58; 95% CI: 1.023-1.095; P = 0.001; OR 1.848; 95% CI: 1.026-3.327; P = 0.041). SxScore was not independently associated with CL, SCD and CCP (all P > 0.2). CONCLUSIONS: We found high prevalence of CL in patients with multivessel complex CAD. However, SxScore does not seem to correlate with carotid atherosclerosis.

Predictors of long-term adverse events after Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold implantation: a 1,933-patient pooled analysis from international registries.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the predictors of long-term adverse clinical events after implantation of the everolimus-eluting Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS). METHODS AND RESULTS: We pooled patient-level databases derived from the large-scale ABSORB EXTEND study and five high-volume international centres. Between November 2011 and November 2015, 1,933 patients underwent PCI with a total of 2,372 Absorb BVS implanted. The median age was 61.0 (IQR 53.0 to 68.6) years, 24% had diabetes, and 68.2% presented with stable coronary artery disease. At a median follow-up of 616 days, MACE occurred in 93 (4.9%) patients, all-cause death in 36 (1.9%) patients, myocardial infarction in 47 (2.5%) patients, and target vessel revascularisation in 72 (3.8%) patients. Definite or probable scaffold thrombosis occurred in 26 (1.3%) patients. On multivariable logistic regression analysis, acute coronary syndromes (hazard ratio [HR] 2.79, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.47 to 5.29; p=0.002), dyslipidaemia (HR 1.43, 95% CI: 1.23 to 1.79; p=0.007), scaffold/reference diameter ratio >1.25 (HR 1.49, 95% CI: 1.18 to 1.88; p=0.001), and residual stenosis >15% (HR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.34 to 2.07; p<0.001) were independent predictors of MACE, whereas the use of intravascular imaging was independently associated with a reduction in MACE (HR 0.13, 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.28; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Optimal Absorb BVS implantation and the use of intravascular imaging guidance are associated with lower rates of adverse events at long-term follow-up.

Incidence of Long-Term Structural Valve Dysfunction and Bioprosthetic Valve Failure After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Background Long-term data on durability of currently available transcatheter heart valves are sparse. We sought to assess the incidence of long-term (8-year) structural valve dysfunction and bioprosthetic valve failure in a cohort of patients with transcatheter aortic valve replacement ( TAVR ) who reached at least 5-year follow-up. Methods and Results Consecutive patients with at least 5-year follow-up available undergoing TAVR from June 4, 2007 to March 30, 2012 were included. Structural valve dysfunction and bioprosthetic valve failure were defined according to newly standardized European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions/ European Society of Cardiology/European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery criteria and reported as cumulative incidence function to account for the competing risk of death. A total of 288 consecutive patients with a mean age of 80.7±5.3 years and with a mean Society of Thoracic Surgery mortality score of 8.1±5.1% were analyzed. Survival rate at 8 years was 29.8%. Mean pressure gradients decreased from 53.3±15.9 mm Hg (pre- TAVR ) to 10.5±4.5 mm Hg (in-hospital post- TAVR ) ( P<0.001). There was a small, not significant, increase in the transaortic gradient throughout follow-up. Bioprosthetic valve failure was observed in a total of 11 patients (8-year cumulative incidence function: 4.51%; 95% confidence interval , 1.95%-8.76%). Severe and moderate structural valve dysfunctions were reported in 7 patients (8-year cumulative incidence function: 2.39%; 95% confidence interval, 0.77%-5.71%) and 13 patients (8-year cumulative incidence function: 5.87%; 95% confidence interval , 3.06%-9.96%), respectively. Aortic valve reintervention (redo TAVR ) was successfully performed in 2 patients (0.7%) presenting with symptomatic severe restenosis and intraprosthetic regurgitation subsequent to endocarditis. Conclusions In an aged population of patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis treated with first-generation bioprostheses, TAVR was associated with a survival rate of 30% but low rates of bioprosthetic valve failure and structural valve dysfunction at 8 years.

Optimized Screening of Coronary Artery Disease With Invasive Coronary Angiography and Ad Hoc Percutaneous Coronary Intervention During Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

BACKGROUND: We sought to describe an optimized approach to coronary artery disease (CAD) screening and management in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). METHODS AND RESULTS: When invasive coronary angiography showed CAD, the treatment strategy and completeness of revascularization was determined based on coronary anatomy. TAVR was performed in the same setting if percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was uncomplicated; otherwise TAVR was postponed. A total of 604 patients undergoing CAD screening at the time of TAVR procedure were prospectively included in this study. Severe CAD was found in 136 patients (22.5%). Among patients with severe CAD, 53 patients (8.8%) underwent uncomplicated PCI. After PCI, TAVR was postponed in 2 patients (0.3%). In 83 patients (13.8%), coronary angiography showed severe CAD that was left untreated. After TAVR, all-cause and cardiovascular 30-day mortality rates were 2.4% and 1.4%, respectively. Disabling stroke, myocardial infarction, and life-threatening bleeding occurred in 0.5%, 0.8%, and 4.0% of patients, respectively. Acute kidney injury II or III rate was 3.3%. At 2 years, all-cause mortality rate was 14.1%. Disabling stroke and myocardial infarction occurred in 2.5% and 1.8% of patients, respectively. Patients undergoing TAVR and PCI in the same session had similar rate of the composite of death, disabling stroke, and myocardial infarction when compared with patients without CAD, and patients with severe CAD left untreated (TAVR+PCI: 10.4%; severe CAD left untreated: 15.4%; no-CAD: 14.8%; P=0.765). CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing TAVR, screening of CAD with invasive coronary angiography and ad hoc PCI during TAVR is feasible and was not associated with increased periprocedural risks. PCI followed by TAVR in the same session had similar outcomes than TAVR in which PCI was not performed.

Revascularization vs. Optimal Medical Therapy in Women with NSTE-ACS.

BACKGROUND: There is conflicting evidence regarding the benefit of an early invasive strategy vs. a conservative strategy in women with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). METHODS: We searched English-language studies on MEDLINE and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 2000 to December 2015. Results from major available studies and meta-analysis comparing outcomes of an early invasive strategy vs. a conservative strategy or medical therapy vs. revascularization in women with NSTE-ACS were considered. RESULTS: Available data on the comparative effectiveness and safety of different management strategies in NSTE-ACS women derive from observational registries and pre-specified gender sub-analyses of randomized trials comparing early routine invasive with a selective invasive strategy. While some post-hoc analysis of randomized trials showed that an early invasive strategy did not reduce the risk of future events among women, in contrast to its beneficial effect in men, others showed similar benefits of a routine early invasive vs. a conservative strategy in men and women. Several important differences between these trials may explain the lack of benefits from a routine invasive strategy compared with a conservative strategy. Overall evidence showed better outcomes with a routine invasive strategy, especially for women at higher risk and those with positive biomarkers. Differently, women with negative biomarkers and those at lower risk appeared to benefit most from a conservative approach. CONCLUSION: The benefit of an early invasive strategy is restricted to women at higher risk. Further research is warranted to define the optimal management of women with NSTE-ACS.

How true delivery profile diminution reduces vascular access challenges and complications.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the treatment of choice among patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) deemed inoperable and a valuable alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement for high-risk surgical patients. Over the years, this procedure proved to be relatively safe, but despite this complications may occur. When performing TAVI, the most frequent complications are represented by peripheral vascular complications and bleeding involving the access site. Trans-femoral (TF) route is the preferred access site and device evolution has made it possible to reduce in size sheaths and delivery systems from the initial 22- to 24-Fr of the first generation TF devices, progressively down to 18-Fr and then to 16-14-Fr with the latest generations of prostheses, with a required minimal lumen diameter (MLD) of 5.5 mm. The more vascular-friendly TF-TAVI devices, not only have made it possible to patients with small arteries to be treated with this procedure, but also have markedly reduced vascular complications.

One-year outcomes after Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold implantation in routine clinical practice.

AIMS: Our aim was to report one-year outcomes of Absorb bioresorbable scaffold implantation under real-world conditions in an all-comers population of patients with high proportions of complex lesions. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients undergoing Absorb 1.1 implantation were included in a single-centre, prospective, all-comers registry. The primary outcome was target lesion failure (TLF), defined as the combination of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction (MI), or clinically driven target lesion revascularisation (TLR). A total of 319 patients received 604 Absorb BVS in 406 lesions. Of note, 24.8% of patients had diabetes and 49.5% presented with an acute coronary syndrome. A total of 51% of lesions were type B2/C. The reference vessel diameter and lesion length were 2.9±0.5 and 21.2±16.8 mm, respectively. The one-year cumulative rate of TLF was 4.9%. Rates of cardiac death, target vessel MI and TLR were 0.9%, 1.3% and 4.2%, respectively. The cumulative one-year rate of definite/probable scaffold thrombosis was 1.3%, with all events occurring within 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that twelve-month clinical outcomes of Absorb use in "real-world" unselected patients with high proportions of complex lesions are reasonably good.

Impact of residual platelet reactivity on reperfusion in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

AIM: Whether high platelet reactivity (HPR) immediately after diagnostic angiography is associated with worse coronary reperfusion prior to and after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is unknown. This study aimed to assess the impact of P2Y12-mediated HPR on angiographic outcomes in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. METHODS: STEMI patients undergoing PPCI and pretreated with a P2Y12 receptor antagonist underwent platelet function testing with the VerifyNow™ assay at the time of angiography. Light transmission aggregometry (LTA) was performed in a subgroup. HPR was defined according to expert consensus definitions. Pre-PCI coronary patency, thrombotic burden and indices of impaired post-PCI reperfusion were compared between HPR and non-HPR patients. RESULTS: Among 164 patients, the prevalence of VerifyNow™-derived HPR was 71.3% at a median (interquartile range (IQR)) of 55 (40-75) minutes after a P2Y12 inhibitor loading dose. Compared with non-HPR patients, those with HPR had significantly lower rates of pre-PCI Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow grades 2 or 3 (51.1% vs. 32.5%, p = 0.04), higher rates of thrombus score (TS) grade 3/4 (29.8% vs. 52.1%, p = 0.015) and 4 (14.9% vs. 32.5%, p = 0.037) and lower median (IQR) corrected TIMI frame count (cTFC; 23.2 (15.8-32.5) vs. 26.0 (21.0-35.0), p = 0.02), respectively. These findings were consistent using LTA-based data. HPR and TS grade 4 were predictors of higher cTFC. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI pretreated with P2Y12 receptor inhibitors, pre-PPCI HPR was found to be associated with lower pre-PCI coronary patency, higher thrombotic burden and a worse index of post-PCI coronary reperfusion.

Bioresorbable vascular scaffold in patients with complex coronary artery disease.

The advent of fully bioresorbable stent technology is heralded as breakthrough technology in the current era of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). Bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) have the potential to introduce a paradigm shift in interventional cardiology, representing an anatomical and functional "vascular restoration" therapy instead of an artificial stiff tube encased by persistent metallic foreign body. Among BRS, the everolimus-eluting scaffold (ABSORB, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA, USA) has been the most extensively investigated in clinical studies. The use of ABSORB in the treatment of relatively simple lesions appears to provide a similar degree of safety and efficacy compared with metallic drug-eluting stent (DES) treated under randomized trials conditions, but patients treated in real-world practice are far more complex than those included in randomized trials. Therefore, several ABSORB all-comers registries dealing with real world conditions are being performed. Their currently available results are summarized in the present overview.

MitraClip Implantation for the Treatment of New-Onset Systolic Anterior Motion of the Mitral Valve After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

New-onset systolic anterior motion of the anterior mitral valve leaflet in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement is a rare pathophysiologic mechanism leading to postprocedural development of mitral regurgitation and, eventually, left ventricular outflow obstruction. We report the first human case of successful MitraClip implantation to treat new-onset systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve after transcatheter aortic valve replacement causing severe obstruction to left ventricular outflow that was unresponsive to standard medical therapy.

Four-year durability of clinical and haemodynamic outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the self-expanding CoreValve.

AIMS: Long-term data on the durability of currently available transcatheter heart valves are limited. We sought to assess four-year clinical and echocardiographic outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with the CoreValve prosthesis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between June 2007 and February 2014, 450 consecutive patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis underwent TAVI in our institution. For the purposes of this study, we included only those patients undergoing successful TAVI with the CoreValve prosthesis who had a minimum follow-up of four years (n=125). Survival rates at one, two, three and four years were 83.2, 76.8, 73.6 and 66.3%, respectively. Aortic regurgitation was a common finding after the procedure, especially due to paravalvular regurgitation (PVR), which was observed in the majority of patients (71.5%), mostly mild (52.0%). Progression from mild acute PVR to moderate PVR at four-year follow-up was reported in three patients. No cases of severe PVR were observed. Prosthetic valve failure was reported in four patients (3.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that favourable outcomes after successful TAVI are associated with sustained clinical and functional cardiovascular benefits up to four-year follow-up. Signs of moderate prosthetic valve failure are present only in a small percentage of patients.

Outcomes of Redo Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement for the Treatment of Postprocedural and Late Occurrence of Paravalvular Regurgitation and Transcatheter Valve Failure.

BACKGROUND: Transcatheter aortic valves can degenerate in a manner similar to surgical bioprostheses. METHODS AND RESULTS: Clinical and echocardiographic outcomes of patients who underwent redo transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures >2 weeks post procedure were collected from 14 centers. Among 13 876 patients, 50 (0.4%) underwent redo TAVR procedure at participating centers. Indications for redo TAVR were moderate-severe prosthetic aortic valve stenosis (n=10, 21.7%), moderate-severe central prosthetic aortic valve regurgitation (n=13, 28.3%), and moderate-severe paraprosthetic aortic valve regurgitation (n=25, 50.0%). The index TAVR was most commonly a Medtronic CoreValve (N=38, 76.0%), followed by Edwards SAPIEN-type valves (n=12, 24.0%) and Portico (n=1, 2.0%). The redo TAVR device was most commonly a CoreValve/Evolut R (n=29, 58.0%), followed by a SAPIEN-type valve (n=20,40.0%) or a Boston Lotus valve (n=1, 2.0%). In 40 patients (80.0%), redo TAVR was performed using the identical device type or that of the succeeding generation. Valve performance was uniformly good after redo TAVR (mean transvalvular gradient post redo TAVR: 12.5±6.1 mm Hg). At hospital discharge, all patients remained alive, with 1 nondisabling stroke (2.0%) and 1 life-threatening bleed (2.0%). Permanent pacemaker implantation was required in 3 out of 35 patients without a prior pacemaker (8.6%). Late survival was 85.1% at a median follow-up of 1589 days (range: 31-3775) after index TAVR and 635 days (range: 8-2460) after redo TAVR. CONCLUSIONS: Redo TAVR for the treatment of postprocedural and late occurrence of paravalvular regurgitation and transcatheter aortic valve prosthesis failure seems to be safe, and it is associated with favorable acute and midterm clinical and echocardiographic outcomes.

SYNTAX Score II predicts carotid disease in a multivessel coronary disease population.

BACKGROUND: The SYNTAX Score (SxScore) is an angiographic tool that evaluates CAD complexity, which we previously reported lacking correlation with the presence of carotid disease. Recently, SxScore II has been developed including both angiographic and clinical variables, which could increase the prognostic accuracy for detection of carotid disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: From January 2013 to June 2014, 244 patients with multivessel CAD (mean age 65.37 years, 84% males) underwent carotid ultrasound scan. At least one carotid lesion (CL) was found in 77% of patients with significant carotid disease (SCD) in 23.4% of cases. Logistic regression analysis revealed no relation between SxScore and CL/SCD (p=0.781 and p=0.368) while SxScore II well correlated with CL (SxScore II-PCI: odds ratio [OR] 1.036; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.006-1.067; p=0.019; SxScore II-CABG: OR 1.045; 95% CI: 1.015-1.076, p=0.003) and SCD (SxScore II-PCI: OR 1.042; 95% CI: 1.012-1.073, p=0.006; SxScore-CABG: OR 1.054; 95% CI: 1.029-1.080, p<0.0001). The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves were: for SxScore 0.512 (95% CI: 0.448-0.577; p=0.77), for SxScore II-PCI and SxScore II-CABG 0.600 (95% CI: 0.536-0.662; p=0.01) and 0.645 (95% CI: 0.581-0.705; p=0.0008), respectively, and 0.527 (95% CI 0.462-0.591; p=0.56), 0.619 (95% CI: 0.555-0.681; p=0.01) and 0.681 (95% CI: 0.619-0.739; p=0.0001), respectively, for the identification of SCD. CONCLUSIONS: The SxScore II, with inclusion of clinical variables over angiographic complexity, seems more suited to predict the presence of carotid disease than the SxScore.

Comparison of suture-based vascular closure devices in transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to compare outcomes with the use of two haemostasis strategies after transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) - one Prostar® vs. two ProGlide® devices (Abbott Vascular Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA). METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a retrospective study enrolling consecutive patients undergoing fully percutaneous transfemoral TAVI in our centre (Ferrarotto Hospital, Catania, Italy) from January 2012 to October 2014. All patients were dichotomised according to the vascular closure device (VCD) used for common femoral artery haemostasis (Prostar vs. ProGlide). All outcomes were defined according to VARC-2 criteria. The study population encompassed a total of 278 patients. Of these, 153 (55.1%) underwent TAVI using the Prostar, and 125 (44.9%) using two ProGlide devices. Vascular complications occurred in 48 patients (17.3%), being more frequent in the ProGlide group (11.8% vs. 24.0%, p=0.007). Patients who had TAVI using the ProGlide were also more likely to have a higher rate of percutaneous closure device failure (4.6% vs. 12.8%, p=0.013). Percutaneous peripheral intervention was performed in 13.7% and 28.0% of Prostar and ProGlide cases, respectively (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Patients undergoing transfemoral TAVI had significantly lower rates of vascular complications and percutaneous closure device failures when the Prostar was used compared with two ProGlide devices.

Early discharge after transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and the safety of early discharge (within 72 h) after transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and to identify baseline features and/or peri-procedural variables, which may affect post-TAVI length-of-stay (LoS) duration. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients discharged within 72 h of TAVI (early discharge group) were compared with consecutive patients discharged after 3 days (late discharge group). Propensity-matched cohorts of patients with a 2:1 ratio were created to better control confounding bias. Among 465 patients, 107 (23.0%) were discharged within 3 days of the procedure. Multivariable regression analysis of unmatched patients demonstrated that baseline New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV (OR: 0.22, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.96; p=0.045) and any bleeding (OR: 0.31, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.92; p=0.031) were less likely to be associated with early discharge after TAVI. Conversely, the year of procedure (OR: 1.66, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.20; p<0.001) and the presence of a permanent pacemaker (PPM) before TAVI (OR: 2.80, 95% CI 1.36 to 5.75; p=0.005) were associated with a higher probability of early discharge. In matched populations, patients in the early discharge group reported lower incidence of in-hospital bleeding (7.9% vs 19.4%, p=0.014), major vascular complications (2.3% vs 9.1%, p=0.038) and PPM implantation (7.9% vs18.5%, p=0.021), whereas after discharge, at 30-day, no significant differences were reported between groups in terms of death (2.2% vs 1.7%, p=0.540), bleeding (0.0% vs 1.1%, p=0.444), PPM implantation (1.1% vs 0.0%, p=0.333) and re-hospitalisation (1.1% vs 1.1%, p=1.000). CONCLUSIONS: Early discharge (within 72 h) after transfemoral TAVI is feasible and does not seem to jeopardise the early safety of the procedure, when performed in a subset of patients selected by clinical judgement. Patients undergoing TAVI in unstable haemodynamic compensation and patients experiencing bleeding after the procedure demonstrated to be poorly suitable to this approach, whereas increasing experience in post-TAVI management was associated with a reduction of LoS.

Comparison of aortic root anatomy and calcification distribution between Asian and Caucasian patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

The current transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) devices have been designed to fit Caucasian and Latin American aortic root anatomies. We evaluated the racial differences in aortic root anatomy and calcium distribution in patients with aortic stenosis who underwent TAVI. We conducted a multicenter study of 4 centers in Asia and Europe, which includes consecutive patients who underwent TAVI with preprocedural multidetector computed tomography. Quantitative assessment of aortic root dimensions, calcium volume for leaflet, and left ventricular outflow tract were retrospectively performed in a centralized core laboratory. A total of 308 patients (Asian group, n = 202; Caucasian group, n = 106) were analyzed. Compared to Caucasian group, Asian group had smaller annulus area (406.3 ± 69.8 vs 430.0 ± 76.8 mm(2); p = 0.007) and left coronary cusp diameter (30.2 ± 3.2 vs 31.1 ± 3.4 mm; p = 0.02) and lower height of left coronary artery ostia (12.0 ± 2.5 vs 13.4 ± 3.4 mm; p <0.001). Of baseline anatomic characteristics, body height showed the highest correlation with annulus area (Pearson correlation r = 0.64; p <0.001). Co-existence of lower height of left coronary artery ostia (<12 mm) and small diameter of left coronary cusp (<30 mm) were more frequent in Asian group compared with Caucasian group (35.6% vs 20.8%; p = 0.02). In contrast, there were no differences in calcium volumes of leaflet (367.2 ± 322.5 vs 359.1 ± 325.7 mm(3); p = 0.84) and left ventricular outflow tract (8.9 ± 23.4 vs 10.1 ± 23.8 mm(3); p = 0.66) between 2 groups. In conclusion, judicious consideration will be required to perform TAVI for short patients with lower height of left coronary artery ostia and small sinus of Valsalva.