One-year follow-up results of atrial fibrillation patients who undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation / 中华心血管病杂志

Objective: To investigate whether atrial fibrillation (AF) before transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) will affect the prognosis of patients post TAVI. Methods: This is a single center retrospective study. A total of 115 patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) who were admitted to General Hospital of Northern Theater Command from May 2016 to November 2020 and successfully received TAVI treatment were included. According to absence or accompaniment of AF pre-TAVI, they were divided into AF group (21 cases) and non-AF group (94 cases). The patients were followed up for postoperative antithrombotic treatment and the occurrence of the net adverse clinical and cerebrovascular events (NACCE) at 12 months post TAVI, including cardiogenic death, readmission to hospital for heart failure, nonfatal myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke and severe bleeding (BARC levels 3-5). Univariate logistic regression was used to analyze the related factors of NACCE. Results: Among the 115 selected patients, age was (73.8±6.9) years, there were 63 males. And 21 cases (18.2%) were diagnosed as AFbefore TAVI. In terms of postoperative antithrombotic therapy, 48.9% (46/94) of the patients in the non-AF group received monotherapy and 47.9% (45/94) received dual antiplatelet therapy. In the AF group, 47.6% (10/21) received anticoagulants and 33.3% (7/21) received dual antiplatelet therapy. The proportion of patients in the AF group taking non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) was higher than that in the non-AF group (38.1% (8/21) vs. 2.1% (2/94), P<0.001). Patients in both groups were followed up to 12 months after TAVI. During the 12 months follow-up, the incidence of NACCE after TAVI was 14.3% (3/21) in the AF group, which was numerically higher than that in the non-AF group (6.4% (6/94)), but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.441). The incidence of severe bleeding was significantly higher in the AF group than in the non-AF group (9.5% (2/21) vs. 0, P=0.032). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension was associated with the risk of NACCE (OR=8.308, P=0.050), while AF was not associated with the risk of NACCE (P=0.235). Conclusion: The incidence of severe bleeding after TAVI is higher in patients with AF than in patients without AF prior TAVI, and there is a trend of increased risk of NACCE post TAVI in AF patients.

Perioperative serious complications in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a single-center experience / 中华心血管病杂志

Objective: To observe the incidence of perioperative severe complications in aortic stenosis (AS) patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVR), and to explore the influence of the accumulated experience of the operators on the incidence of complications. Methods: This is a single-center retrospective study. Patients with AS who underwent TAVR from May 2016 to November 2020 in General Hospital of Northern Theater Command were included. The occurrence of severe complications during perioperative period was recorded. Severe complications included all-cause death, surgical transfer to thoracotomy, coronary artery occlusion, peripheral vascular approach complications, severe cerebrovascular events, moderate or above perivalvular leakage, valve displacement (implanted valve middle valve), pacemaker implantation, etc. In order to observe the influence of the accumulated experience of the operators on the occurrence of postoperative complications, the complications in each stage of the patients were counted and the bar chart was drawn with interval of every 30 patients. Results: A total of 119 patients were included, including 64 males and 55 females, the mean age was (73.9±6.9) years. The valve implantation was unsuccessful in 3 out of 119 patients (2.5%). There were 39 cases of severe complications during perioperative period, including 1 death (0.8%), 2 cases of thoracotomy (1.7%), 2 cases of coronary artery occlusion (1.7%), 8 cases of peripheral vascular approach complications (6.7%), and 1 case of new severe cerebrovascular event (0.8%), 3 cases of moderate or higher perivalvular leakage (2.5%), 8 cases of valve displacement leads to midvalvular implantation (6.7%), 14 cases of permanent pacemaker implantation due to new atrioventricular block (11.8%). The bar chart showed that the incidence of permanent pacemaker implantation and in-valve implantation did not significantly decrease with the accumulation of experience, while the incidence of other complications showed a decreasing trend after 30 cases. Conclusions: Most serious complications occurred in the early stage of TAVR in our center. The incidence of all cause death, coronary artery occlusion and peripheral vascular approach complications in the perioperative period post TAVR could be reduced in the TAVR center in the learning stage through the accumulation of procedure-related experience, but the incidence of pacemaker placement and the implanted valve within the valve dose not significantly decrease over time.

Safety and efficacy of bivalirudin versus unfractionated heparin during perioperative period of percutaneous coronary intervention / 中华心血管病杂志

Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of bivalirudin versus unfractionated heparin during perioperative period of percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI) in real-world. Methods: A total of 13 097 serial patients who underwent PCI from January 2016 to November 2018 in the Northern Theater Command were enrolled in the present study. Patients were stratified as the bivalirudin group or the heparin group according to antithrombotic therapy during PCI. The primary efficiency endpoint was 30-day net adverse clinical event(NACE), defined as all-cause death, re-infarction, urgent target lesion revascularization (uTLR), stroke or any bleeding. The second efficiency endpoint was 30-day major cardiac and cerebral events (MACCE), defined as all-cause death, re-infarction, uTLR and stroke. Additional end points included the rates of stent thrombosis at 30 days. Propensity scores included clinical and demographic variables, with 1∶2 matching. Compared the incidence of events above between the two groups before and after matching. Results: Among the 13 097 included patients(age was (61±10) years old), 3 421 (26.1%) were female. And 2 734 patients were divided into the bivalirudin group, and 10 363 patients to the heparin group(5 468 after matching). Before propensity score matching, patients in bivalirudin group were older and received higher levels of CRUSADE score than heparin group. These patients were more likely to have hypertension and more with ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes（all P＜0.05）. After propensity score matching, the incidence of 30-day NACE(3.8%(103/2 734) vs.5.0%(271/5 468), P=0.015) and any bleeding (2.0%(54/2 734) vs. 2.8%(151/5 468), P=0.032) in the bivalirudin group were lower than that in the heparin group, but the incidence of MACCE (1.9%(51/2 734) vs. 2.3%(127/5 468), P=0.180) and stent thrombosis (0.1%(2/2 734) vs. 0.1%(3/5 468), P=1.000) were comparable between the two groups. Conclusion: The risk of bleeding and the incidence of NACE are significantly lower for patients using bivalirudin during perioperative period of PCI compared to heparin, without significant differences in ischemic events.