RESUMO
BACKGROUNDThe novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19 Pandemic) has brought difficulties to the management of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). OBJECTIVESThis prospective, observational cohort study sought to evaluate the feasibility of a novel, virtual, and remote health care strategy for TAVR patients with smart wearable devices. METHODSA total of 100 consecutive severe aortic stenosis patients who underwent elective transfemoral TAVR were enrolled and each received a HUAWEI smartwatch at least one day before TAVR. Vital signs were continuously tracked and recorded. Single lead electrocardiogram (ECG) was recorded periodically after TAVR. A designated heart team member was to provide remote data-assisted health care to address the medical demand. RESULTSThirty-eight cardiac events were reported in 34 patients after discharge, with most of the events (76.0%) were detected and confirmed by the smartwatch. Six patients were advised and readmitted to the hospital for arrhythmia events, among whom, four received pacemaker implantations. The remaining 28 (82.4%) patients received telemedicine monitoring instead of face-to-face clinical visits, and three of them received new medication treatment under a doctors online guidance of doctors. New-onset LBBB was found in 48 patients with transient and recovered spontaneously in 30 patients, while new-onset atrial fibrillation in 4 patients. There were no significant differences in the average weekly heart rates, the ratio of abnormal or low oxygen saturation when compared with the baseline. The average daily steps increased over time significantly (baseline, 870{+/-}1353 steps; first week, 1986{+/-}2406 steps; second week, 2707{+/-}2716 steps; third week, 3059{+/-}3036 steps; fourth week, 3678{+/-}3485 steps, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONSSmartwatch can facilitate remote health care for patients undergoing TAVR during COVID-19 and enables a novel remote follow-up strategy. The majority of cardiac clinical events that occurred within 30-day follow-up were detected by the smartwatch, mainly due to the record of conduction abnormality. (SMART Watch Facilitated Early Discharge in Patients undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, NCT04454177).
