Transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Expert Consensus of the Association of Cardiovascular Interventions of the Polish Cardiac Society and the Polish Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons, approved by the Board of the Polish Cardiac Society…

Transcatheter aortic valve intervention in hospitals without cardiac surgery departments: a future scenario?

Transcatheter aortic valve intervention (TAVI) was introduced in early 2000 to offer treatment to inoperable patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. In a couple of decades, the procedure resulted effective and safe also in patients with intermediate to low risk for surgery; therefore, due to the progressive ageing of the population, the clinical need for TAVI is continuously increasing and is hardly met by the availability of the procedure, the so-called "TAVI capacity". As a result, many patients encounter difficulties in being referred to TAVI centers or face long waiting list times, thus risking severe adverse events (including death) before the procedure is performed. Although contemporary guidelines and consensus documents recommend that TAVI should only be performed in hospitals with active cardiac surgery departments, starting TAVI programs also in interventional cardiac laboratories without on-site cardiac surgery could represent a way to increase TAVI capacity, thus leading to a greater number of patients being treated in less time. On the other side of the coin, such a strategy may jeopardize patient safety in case of periprocedural complications needing bailout surgery and may lead to a suboptimal multidisciplinary Heart Team evaluation. This review aims to assess and discuss available clinical data and implementation of TAVI programs in hospitals without on-site active cardiac surgery departments considering the growing unmet clinical need and technical advancement of TAVI platforms, yet not overlooking the recommendations of international scientific societies.

Quality of Life and Depressive Symptoms in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implementation Patients-A Cross-Sectional Study

Quality of life is an important factor influencing mood. In any group of elderly people undergoing valve implementation or surgical aortic valve replacement, one in three will have depressive symptoms. The aims of this study were as follows: 1. to evaluate the impact of health-related quality of life on depressive symptoms in elderly patients undergoing TAVI, and 2. to analyze beliefs about TAVI. Methods: A total of 131 elderly people (mean age: 82.1 ± 6.1 years) scheduled to receive TAVI completed the Geriatric Depression Scale, EQ-5D-3L, and Mini Mental State Examination. A total of 43 patients completed the questionnaires after the treatment. The narrative interview analyses were performed based on 20 randomly selected patients after TAVI. Results: The mean level of general depression before TAVI was 4.19 ± 2.83, and after it was 3.12 ± 2.52 (p = 0.02), and the frequency decreased from 20% to 3%. An increase in the level of activity and number of interests and a decrease in life satisfaction were identified. The higher the general quality of life was, the lower the levels of depressiveness before and after TAVI were (r = 0.26 vs. r = 0.48; p < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients differed in their depressive symptoms, as well as their intensity and frequency, before and after TAVI. These results underscore the importance of screening for depression at baseline and reassessing changes in depressiveness during follow-up.

Twelve-month outcomes of transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation in patients with severe aortic valve stenosis

Introduction

Transapical access (TA) transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) (TA-TAVI) represents one of the possible routes in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) who are not suitable for transfemoral access.

Aim

To assess early- and mid-term clinical outcomes after TA-TAVI.

Material and methods

Patients with severe symptomatic AS undergoing TA-TAVI from November 2008 to December 2019 were enrolled. Clinical and procedural characteristics as well as clinical outcomes including all-cause mortality during 12-month follow-up were assessed.

Results

Sixty-one consecutive patients underwent TA-TAVI for native AS. Patients were elderly with median age of 80.0 (76.0-84.0) years; 55.7% were males. Median baseline EuroSCORE I and STS scores were 18.2% (11.6-27.7) and 4.8% (3.3-8.2), respectively. The procedural success rate was 96.7%. In-hospital, 30-day and 12-month mortality rates were 9.8%; 18.0% and 24.6%, respectively. The main periprocedural and in-hospital complications were bleeding complications (14.8%). The following factors were associated with 12-month mortality: previous cerebrovascular event (CVE), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), aortic valve area (AVA), right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and serum level of N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (RR for CVE 3.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-8.76: p = 0.026; RR for AVA per 0.1 cm² 1.28, 95% CI: 1.03-1.55: p = 0.024; RR for GFR per 1 ml/min 0.96: 95% CI: 0.94-0.99: p = 0.007; RR for NT-proBNP per 1000 pg/ml 1.07: 95% CI: 1.01-1.17: p = 0.033; RR for RVSP per 1 mm Hg 1.07: 95% CI 1.02-1.16: p = 0.011).

Conclusions

Transapical TAVI in high-risk patients provides good hemodynamic results with acceptable outcomes.

Can Inspiratory Muscle Training Improve Exercise Tolerance and Lower Limb Function After Myocardial Infarction?

Background

Respiratory therapy is an integral part of treatment of cardiac patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of addition of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) to second-stage cardiac rehabilitation on exercise tolerance and function of lower extremities in patients following myocardial infarction (MI).

Material/Methods

This study included 90 patients (mean age 65 years) with MI who took part in the second stage of an 8-week cycle of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). They were divided into 3 groups: group I underwent CR and IMT, group II only underwent CR, and group III only underwent IMT. Groups I and II were allocated randomly according sealed opaque envelopes. The third group consisted of patients who could not participate in standard rehabilitation for various reasons. Before and after the 8-week program, participants were assessed for maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure (PImax and PEmax) values, exercise tolerance, and knee muscle strength.

Results

In groups I and II, a significant increase in the PImax parameters and exercise tolerance parameters (MET) were observed. Group I had increased PEmax parameters. In group III, the same changes in the parameter values that reflect respiratory muscle function were observed. All of the examined strength parameters of the knee joint muscles demonstrated improvement in all of the investigated groups, but the biggest differences were observed in group I.

Conclusions

Use of IMT in the ambulatory rehabilitation program of MI patients resulted in improved rehabilitation efficacy, leading to a significant improvement in physical condition.