Comorbidities may offset expected improved survival after transcatheter aortic valve replacement

AIMS: After transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities may offset the survival benefit from the procedure. We aimed to describe the relationships between that benefit and patient comorbidities. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study pooled two European cohorts of patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS-pooled): one with patients who underwent (cohort of AS patients treated by TAVR, N = 233) and another with patients who did not undergo TAVR (cohort of AS patients treated medically; N = 291). The investigators collected the following: calcification prognostic impact (CAPRI) and Charlson scores for cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities, activities of daily living (ADL)/instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scores for frailty as well as routine Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score and Logistic Euroscore. Unlike ADL/IADL scores, CAPRI and Charlson scores were found to be independent predictors of 1-year all-cause death in the AS-pooled cohort, with and without adjustment for STS score or Logistic Euroscore; they were thus retained to define a three-level prognostic scale (good, intermediate, and poor). The survival benefit from TAVR—vs. no TAVR—was stratified according to these three prognosis categories. The beneficial effect of TAVR on 1-year all-cause death was significant in patients with good and intermediate prognosis, hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): 0.36 (0.18; 0.72) and 0.32 (0.15; 0.67). That effect was reduced and not statistically significant in patient with poor prognosis [0.65 (0.22; 1.88)]. CONCLUSION: The study showed that, beyond a given comorbidity burden (as assessed by CAPRI and Charlson scores), the probability of death within a year was high and poorly reduced by TAVR. This indicates the futility of TAVR in patients in the poor prognosis category.