Clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation in patients older than 90 years of age

Abstract

Abstract Background The prevalence of severe aortic valve stenosis is increasing due to the prolonged life expectancy. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a minimally invasive treatment for severe aortic stenosis that is particularly attractive for elderly patients. However, there are limited data evaluating clinical outcomes in patients older than 90 years of age undergoing TAVI. Purpose The aim of this study was to compare in-hospital clinical outcomes between nonagenarians undergoing TAVI versus patients younger than 90 years of age and to evaluate 2-year clinical outcomes of all-cause death, stroke, and hospitalization for heart failure among nonagenarians. Methods and results A total of 57 nonagenarians (12%) and 418 patients younger than 90 years of age (mean 82.5 years of age) undergoing TAVI from February 2014 to February 2023 in our institution were included. Among nonagenarians, 83.7% had hypertension, 8.9% had diabetes mellitus, 17.9% had atrial fibrillation, and 10.5% had malignant diseases. Self-expanding valves were more often implanted in nonagenarians (43.9% vs. 29.0%, p=0.02) and nonagenarians were likely to undergo transfemoral TAVI (89.5% vs. 84.0%, p=0.28) Mean hospitalization days after TAVI was almost similar between nonagenarians and patients younger than 90 years of age (12.5 days vs. 12.8 days, p=0.90). Rates of in-hospital disabling stroke (3.6% vs. 1.8%, p = 0.38) and need for permanent pacemaker implantation (8.8% vs. 5.7%, p = 0.37) tended to be higher in nonagenarians. The rate of major vascular complication was almost similar between two groups (3.5% vs. 4.8%, p=0.66). The 2-year survival rates of all-cause death, stroke and hospitalization for heart failure, composites of all-cause death and stroke and composites of all-cause death, stroke and hospitalization for heart failure among nonagenarians were 86.3%, 87.5%, 88.9%, 80.6% and 74.0%, respectively. During an average 1.6-year follow-up period, nine deaths occurred among nonagenarians. Of those, seven patients died from non-cardiovascular causes. Conclusion In this single center analysis, clinical outcomes in nonagenarians undergoing TAVI were acceptable compared with patients younger than 90 years of age.