Comparison of Cardiac Repolarization After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation and Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement: A Longitudinal Study

INTRODUCTION: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been established as an alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for high-risk patients. To assess the impact of TAVI on cardiac repolarization, we compared QT dispersion (QTD) and the interval from the peak to the end of the T wave (Tpeak–Tend: TpTe) between the patients who underwent TAVI and those who underwent SAVR and TpTe between the patients who underwent TAVI or SAVR. METHODS: This retrospective study was approved by the ethics committee of Dokkyo Medical University Hospital. The study included 45 patients who underwent TAVI and 45 patients who underwent SAVR. The QT, corrected QT (QTc), QTD, QTc dispersion (QTcD), Tp–Te, Tp–Te/QT, and Tp–Te/QTc were manually measured in standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings obtained before surgery, immediately after surgery, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: No change was observed in RR, QT, QTc, Tp–Te, Tp–Te/QT, and Tp–Te/QTc in the two groups throughout the study. The QTD and QTcD significant decreased immediately after surgery in the TAVI group as compared to the SAVR group (P < 0.001). In contrast, QTD and QTcD in the SAVR group gradually, but not significantly declined 6 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: QTD and QTcD immediately decreased after TAVI as compared to SAVR. Our findings indicate that TAVI more rapidly improved dispersion of spatial repolarization than SAVR.