Favorable outcomes for female patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement?

Abstract

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is an established treatment for high surgical risk or inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) (1-3). Interestingly, unlike percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), approximately 50% of patients who undergo TAVR are female, despite the fact that female patients have fewer comorbidities than male patients (4-6). Furthermore, female patients have been found to have favorable outcomes as compared to male patients (5-10). However, to date, it remains unclear why male patients have a higher incidence of mortality after TAVR. Understanding this might help determine the effect of sex differences in patients with severe AS undergoing TAVR and should therefore be evaluated.