Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: Advanced age plays a major role in surgical risk algorithms; however, the outcomes data for the very elderly are lacking. We, therefore, evaluated the outcomes after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in nonagenarians (age, >90 years) at our institution during an 11-year period. METHODS: The demographics, procedural details, and in-hospital outcomes were retrospectively analyzed for 119 nonagenarians with symptomatic, severe aortic stenosis who had undergone SAVR or SAVR plus concomitant surgery from 2001 to 2012. The mean follow-up period was 915 +/- 832 days. RESULTS: The average age was 91.7 +/- 1.9 years (range, 90-98), and the mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons score was 8.9 +/- 5.7. The mean aortic valve gradient was 45 +/- 16 mm Hg, mean aortic valve area was 0.66 +/- 0.2 cm2, and mean ejection fraction was 49.8% +/- 11.8%; 47% underwent isolated SAVR. The average length of stay was longer than expected; however, the rates of prolonged ventilation (16.8%), new atrial fibrillation (43.7%), stroke (0.8%), and renal failure (5.9%) were acceptable. Three patients (2.5%) required reoperation for bleeding. Overall, the 30-day and 1-year mortality was 7.6% and 21.0%, respectively. The multivariate predictors of mortality at 1 year included previous myocardial infarction (hazard ratio, 2.79; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-6.45; P = .016), obstructive lung disease (hazard ratio, 3.90; 95% confidence interval, 1.66-9.15; P = .025), and diabetes (hazard ratio, 2.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-7.07; P = .033). The observed in-hospital mortality was lower than expected (observed/expected, 0.85). CONCLUSIONS: Excellent procedural and long-term outcomes can be achieved in nonagenarians, and age alone should not be a contraindication to SAVR in selected populations. Our sample cohort has validated the feasibility of a primary operative strategy in elderly patients with aortic stenosis and acceptable risk profiles.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown cross-sectional 3-dimensional (3D) transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) measurements to severely underestimate multidetector row computed tomographic (MDCT) measurements for the assessment of aortic annulus before transcatheter aortic valve replacement. This study compares annulus measurements from 3D-TEE using off-label use of commercially available software with MDCT measurements and assesses their ability to predict paravalvular regurgitation. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis who had both contrast MDCT and 3D-TEE for annulus assessment before balloon-expandable transcatheter aortic valve replacement were analyzed. Annulus area, perimeter, and orthogonal maximum and minimum diameters were measured. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed with mild or greater paravalvular regurgitation as the classification variable. Three-dimensional TEE and MDCT cross-sectional perimeter and area measurements were strongly correlated (r=0.93-0.94; P<0.0001); however, the small differences (/= mild paravalvular regurgitation was good for both MDCT (area under the curve for perimeter and area cover index=0.715 and 0.709, respectively) and 3D-TEE (area under the curve for perimeter and area cover index=0.709 and 0.694, respectively). Differences in receiver operating characteristic analysis between MDCT and 3D-TEE perimeter and area cover indexes were not statistically significant (P=0.15 and 0.35, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Annulus measurements using a new method for analyzing 3D-TEE images closely approximate those of MDCT. Annulus measurements from both modalities predict mild or greater paravalvular regurgitation with equivalent accuracy.

Patients with severe aortic stenosis are commonly elderly and with significant comorbidity. Surgical intervention can improve symptoms and survival in severe aortic stenosis. However, a large proportion of patients do not undergo surgical intervention because they are deemed to be inoperable or too high risk. Over the last decade, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been developed, providing an effective, less-invasive alternative to open cardiac surgery for inoperable or high-risk patients. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of risk assessment in TAVR. Specifically, this article reviews the epidemiology of aortic stenosis, describes the risks and benefits of TAVR across multiple outcome measures, explores frailty and other elderly risk factors as metrics for improved risk assessment and discusses the application of improved risk assessment in TAVR decisions.

BACKGROUND: Transapical (TA) aortic valve replacement was an integral part of the Placement of Transcatheter Aortic Valves (PARTNER) trial. Enrollment during the randomized trial included 104 transapical (premarket approval TA [PMA-TA]) and 92 surgical aortic valve replacements (SAVR) within the TA cohort. On completion of the trial, enrollment continued in a nonrandomized continued access (NRCA) program. We compared the outcomes of NRCA-TA procedures with those of PMA-TA and SAVR. METHODS: In 22 centers, 975 patients underwent TA aortic valve replacement as part of the NRCA registry. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were unchanged from the previously reported PARTNER trial. All patients were followed up for at least 1 year. RESULTS: Thirty-day or in-hospital mortality was 8.8% for the NRCA-TA cohort, compared with 10.6% and 12.0% for the PMA-TA and SAVR patients, respectively (p = 0.54). One-year mortality in the NRCA-TA cohort was 22.1%, not significantly lower than the mortality in PMA-TA and SAVR patients at 29.0% and 25.3%, respectively (p = 0.27). Thirty-day or in-hospital stroke was 2.2% among NRCA-TA patients in contrast to the 6.7% stroke rate observed in the PMA-TA group and 5.4% in SAVR patients (p = 0.008). Lower rates of neurologic adverse events in the NRCA-TA group persisted at 1 year compared with the PMA-TA and SAVR patients. CONCLUSIONS: Among the 975 patients in the NRCA-TA cohort, rates of major outcomes including death and stroke compared favorably with outcomes of PMA-TA and SAVR patients enrolled in the PARTNER trial. This trend toward improved outcomes may be attributed to improved patient selection, individual centers surmounting the procedural learning curve, and refinements in surgical technique.

Functional capacity as assessed by 6-minute walk test distance (6MWTD) has been shown to predict outcomes in selected cohorts with cardiovascular disease. To evaluate the association between 6MWTD and outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) among participants in the Placement of AoRTic TraNscathetER valve (PARTNER) trial, TAVI recipients (n = 484) were stratified into 3 groups according to baseline 6MWTD: unable to walk (n = 218), slow walkers (n = 133), in whom 6MWTD was below the median (128.5 meters), and fast walkers (n = 133) with 6MWTD >128.5 meters. After TAVI, among fast walkers, follow-up 6MWTD decreased by 44 +/- 148 meters at 12 months (p <0.02 compared with baseline). In contrast, among slow walkers, 6MWTD improved after TAVI by 58 +/- 126 meters (p <0.001 compared with baseline). Similarly, among those unable to walk, 6MWTD distance increased by 66 +/- 109 meters (p <0.001 compared with baseline). There were no differences in 30-day outcomes among 6MWTD groups. At 2 years, the rate of death from any cause was 42.5% in those unable to walk, 31.2% in slow walkers, and 28.8% in fast walkers (p = 0.02), driven primarily by differences in noncardiac death. In conclusion, among high-risk older adults undergoing TAVI, baseline 6MWTD does not predict procedural outcomes but does predict long-term mortality. Nonetheless, patients with poor baseline functional status exhibit the greatest improvement in 6MWTD. Additional work is required to identify those with poor functional status who stand to benefit the most from TAVI.

Endovascular therapy for peripheral vascular and valvular disease has rapidly expanded and yet also produced new challenges for vascular access and closure. Current generation thoracic endograft (TEVAR) outer diameter sheath sizes range from 18 to 25 French, and the options for vascular access closure include off-label use of a closure device versus surgical cutdown. We describe a patient with a complex, post-dissection, descending aortic aneurysm who required TEVAR and had a vascular access complication repaired with stent exteriorization with open repair.