Female-specific survival advantage from transcatheter aortic valve implantation over surgical aortic valve replacement: Meta-analysis of the gender subgroups of randomised controlled trials including 3758 patients.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for severe aortic stenosis (AS) is the first area of interventional cardiology where women are treated as often as men. In this analysis of the gender specific results of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TAVI with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) we aimed to determine whether gender affects the survival comparison between TAVI and SAVR. We identified all RCTs comparing TAVI versus SAVR for severe AS and reporting 1 and/or 2year survival. Summary odds ratios (ORs) were obtained using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Q statistic and I2. Four RCTs met the criteria, totalling 3758 patients, 1706 women and 2052 men. Amongst females, TAVI recipients had a significantly lower mortality than SAVR recipients, at 1year (OR 0.68; 95%CI 0.50 to 0.94) and at 2years (OR 0.74; 95%CI 0.58 to 0.95). Amongst males there was no difference in mortality between TAVI and SAVR, at 1year (OR 1.09; 95%CI 0.86 to 1.39) or 2years (OR 1.05; 95%CI 0.85 to 1.3). The difference in treatment effect between genders was significant at both 1year (pinteraction=0.02) and 2years (pinteraction=0.04). In women TAVI has a 26 to 31% lower mortality odds than SAVR. In men, there is no difference in mortality between TAVI and SAVR.

Prosthetic valve endocarditis after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

BACKGROUND: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an advancing mode of treatment for inoperable or high-risk patients with aortic stenosis. Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) after TAVI is a serious complication, but only limited data exist on its incidence, outcome, and procedural risk factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: Observational single-center study of 509 consecutive patients treated with a transcatheter implanted self-expandable aortic valve prosthesis (Medtronic CoreValve). We identified 18 patients diagnosed with TAVI-PVE during a median follow-up period of 1.4 years (interquartile range, 0.5-2.5 years; longest follow-up was 6.3 years). TAVI-PVE was most frequent in the first year after implantation (first-year incidence, 3.1% [confidence interval, 1.4%-4.8%]); the overall annualized rate was 2.1% per patient-year (confidence interval, 1.2%-3.3%). Seventeen patients (94%) were treated conservatively and 1 with surgery. Four patients (22%) died from endocarditis or complications to treatment, 2 of those (11%) during initial hospitalization for PVE. An increased risk of TAVI-PVE was seen in patients with low implanted valve position (hazard ratio, 2.8 [1.1-7.2]), moderate or worse postprocedural paravalvular regurgitation (hazard ratio, 4.0 [1.5-11]), implantation of >1 prosthesis (hazard ratio, 5.2 [1.5-18]), and any vascular complication (hazard ratio, 3.8 [1.5-9.8]). CONCLUSIONS: TAVI-PVE occurred at a slightly higher rate than reported for surgically implanted valves. Conservative treatment was associated with an acceptable outcome. Suboptimal valve deployment and vascular complications were associated with an increased risk of TAVI-PVE.