A logistic regression analysis comparing minimalistic approach and intubation anaesthesia in patients undergoing transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement

AIMS: Patients with postoperative delirium (POD) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are ventilated and hospitalized longer and suffer increased in-hospital mortality. This study hypothesized that a minimalistic approach with conscious sedation during transfemoral aortic valve replacement (TF-AVR) protects against delirium, time of mechanical ventilation, and increased length of stay in intensive care unit (ICU) compared to intubation anaesthesia. METHODS AND RESULTS: 308 patients which underwent TF-AVR in our centre between 01/2013 and 08/2017 were retrospectively evaluated regarding postoperative delirium, time of mechanical ventilation, and days in ICU. TF-AVR was performed with intubation anaesthesia in 245 patients and with conscious sedation in 63. The operative risk estimated by the logEUROScore was similar in both groups (intubation: 13.28 +/-9.06%, conscious sedation: 12.24 +/-6.77%, p = 0.395). In the conscious sedation group procedure duration was shorter (0.61 +/-0.91h vs. 1.75 +/-0.96h, p<0.001). The risk for intraprocedural complications was not influenced by the anaesthesia method (OR conscious sedation instead of intubation 1.66, p = 0.117), but days on ICU (-2.21 days, p<0.0001) and minutes of mechanical ventilation (-531.2 min, p < 0.0001) were reduced. Furthermore, the risk of POD was decreased when TF-AVR was performed under conscious sedation (6.35% vs. 18.18%, OR 0.29, p = 0.021). CONCLUSIONS: Time of mechanical ventilation, risk of POD, and days on ICU were substantially reduced in patients who underwent TF-AVR under conscious sedation. Our data suggest that TF-AVR with conscious sedation is safe with a beneficial postoperative course in clinical practice, and should be considered the favoured approach.