Survival in very elderly patients with severe aortic stenosis submitted to TAVI compared to the general population

Abstract Introduction Severe aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common acquired valvular heart disease. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is indicated as an alternative to surgery in patients (pts) with severe AS above 75 years old (yo) regardless of surgical risk. The prevalence of severe AS increases with age. In the very elderly, i.e. > 85yo, the presence of severe AS is often accompanied with important comorbidities and frailty. To improve pts assessment in the heart team, it is essential to characterize the outcomes of previous interventions in this challenging group of patients and that was the goal of the present study. Methods Single-center retrospective analysis, on prospectively collected data, of consecutive patients ≥85yo undergoing TAVI between 2015 to 2021. Successful TAVI, major procedural complications and 1-year mortality rates were defined according to the VARC-3 definition. Observed survival was compared to an age-matched population using life expectancy tables available at the portuguese National Statistics Institute. Simulated survival curves for an age-matched population were performed using an expected hazard rate of 0.14. This was a conservative approach assuming that mortality rate remained constant in the population during follow-up. Results A total of 767 pts underwent TAVI during the study period. Of these, 349 pts were ≥85yo and were included in our study. Median age was 87yo [IQR 86-89], 60% female (n = 211) with a median Euroscore II of 5% [IQR 4-7]. A total of 98 pts (28%) had previous coronary artery disease, 300 pts (85%) had chronic kidney disease and 22 pts (6%) had a previous stroke. Median mean aortic valve gradient was 49mmHg [IQR 42-60] and left ventricle ejection fraction was 55% [IQR 50-56]. 268 pts (77%) underwent an elective TAVI and the remaining 23% were urgent procedures after hospital admission. The transfemoral approach was used in 334 pts (96%) and 258 pts (74%) implanted a self-expanding valve. Median in-hospital time was 6 days [IQR 4-11] and most common complications were permanent pacemaker implantation (n=59, 17%) and major access-related complications (n=17, 5%). All-cause mortality at 30 days and 1 year were 2.1% (n=7) and 13.1% (n=46), respectively. This compares similarly to the group of younger pts (<85yo) which presented a 30 day and 1 year mortality of 2.8% and 12.8%, respectively. Among very-elderly, 35 pts (10%) were readmitted in the first-year post TAVI. The mean survival time in our cohort was 4.9 years compared to expected 6.2 years (figure, log-rank < 0.01). The mortality rate at one year was 13% (n = 46) in our cohort compared to expected mortality of 14% (n = 50), not statistically significant. Conclusion In this study, very old patients submitted to TAVI had a 1-year mortality rate similar to age-matched population and a mean survival time of more than 4 years, albeit inferior to an age-matched population.