Minimally-invasive versus transcatheter aortic valve implantation: systematic review with meta-analysis of propensity-matched studies

Right anterior mini-thoracotomy aortic valve replacement versus transcatheter aortic valve implantation in octogenarians: a single-center retrospective study

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to compare the early outcomes of octogenarians undergoing minimally invasive right anterior mini-thoracotomy aortic valve replacement (RAT-AVR) with those undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for aortic valve disease.

METHODS

In this single-center retrospective study, data were collected from octogenarians before and after RAT-AVR and TAVI between January 2021 and July 2022. Short-term outcomes, including the length of hospital stay, in-hospital mortality, all-cause mortality, and other major postoperative complications, were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in in-hospital mortality, stroke, acute kidney dysfunction requiring renal replacement therapy, length of intensive care unit stay, or length of hospital stay. However, the TAVI group had a higher incidence of permanent pacemaker insertion (10% vs. 0%, p=0.54) and paravalvular leaks (75% vs. 0%, p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

In the present study on octogenarians, both TAVI and RAT-AVR showed comparable short-term results. Although both procedures were considered safe and effective in the selected group, RAT-AVR had a lower incidence of complete atrioventricular block and paravalvular regurgitation.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation versus surgical aortic valve replacement for pure aortic regurgitation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 33,484 patients

INTRODUCTION

The published studies comparing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in pure aortic regurgitation (AR) are conflicting. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to compare TAVI with SAVR in pure AR.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, and the Cochrane Library Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from inception until 23 June 2023. Review Manager was used for statistical analysis. The risk ratio (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to compare dichotomous outcomes. Continuous outcomes were compared using the mean difference (MD) and 95% CI. The inconsistency test (I2) assessed the heterogeneity. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa scale to assess the quality of included studies. We evaluated the strength of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) scale.

RESULTS

We included six studies with 5633 patients in the TAVI group and 27,851 in SAVR. In-hospital mortality was comparable between TAVI and SAVR (RR = 0.89, 95% CI [0.56, 1.42], P = 0.63) (I2 = 86%, P < 0.001). TAVI was favored over SAVR regarding in-hospital stroke (RR = 0.50; 95% CI [0.39, 0.66], P < 0.001) (I2 = 11%, P = 0.34), in-hospital acute kidney injury (RR = 0.56; 95% CI: [0.41, 0.76], P < 0.001) (I2 = 91%, P < 0.001), major bleeding (RR = 0.23; 95% CI: [0.17, 0.32], P < 0.001) (I2 = 78%, P < 0.001), and shorter hospital say (MD = - 4.76 days; 95% CI: [- 5.27, - 4.25], P < 0.001) (I2 = 88%, P < 0.001). In contrast, TAVI was associated with a higher rate of pacemaker implantation (RR = 1.68; 95% CI: [1.50, 1.88], P < 0.001) (I2 = 0% P = 0.83).

CONCLUSION

TAVI reduces in-hospital stroke and is associated with better safety outcomes than SAVR in patients with pure AR.

Minimally Invasive Surgical Versus Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A Retrospective Observational Single-Center Study in Japan

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to compare the outcomes of minimally invasive aortic valve replacement (MICS-AVR) versus transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TF-TAVR) in Asian patients.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective, observational, single-center study in Japan, including cases of MICS-AVR (n = 202) and TF-TAVR (n = 248) between 2014 and 2021. In a total of 450 cases, propensity score matching was performed at a ratio of 1:1, resulting in 96 pairs. Furthermore, we performed competing-risk regression and mediation analyses to determine the treatment effect on outcomes of interests, considering death as a competing risk, and to evaluate the mediation effect of paravalvular leak (PVL) severity.

RESULTS

There were similar incidences of all-cause death, cardiac death, stroke and cerebral hemorrhage, and aortic valve reintervention between the 2 groups. However, the TF-TAVR cohort had a longer hospital length of stay and higher rates of significant PVL compared with the MICS-AVR cohort. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression analyses revealed that heart failure hospitalization (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.129, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.038 to 0.445, p = 0.001) and permanent pacemaker implantation (HR = 0.050, 95% CI: 0.006 to 0.409, p = 0.005) favored MICS-AVR. Competing-risk regression analyses confirmed similar findings. All outcomes were unrelated to PVL severity.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first comparative study of clinical outcomes in Asian patients undergoing MICS-AVR versus TF-TAVR, revealing that MICS-AVR could be a feasible and efficient alternative to TF-TAVR. Future larger-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to validate the present results.

Network Meta-Analysis Comparing Transcatheter, Minimally Invasive, and Conventional Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement

The landscape of aortic valve replacement (AVR) has evolved dramatically over the years, but time-varying outcomes have yet to be comprehensively explored. This study aimed to compare the all-cause mortality among 3 AVR techniques: transcatheter (TAVI), minimally invasive (MIAVR), and conventional AVR (CAVR). An electronic literature search was performed for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing TAVI with CAVR and RCTs or propensity score-matched (PSM) studies comparing MIAVR with CAVR or MIAVR to TAVI. Individual patient data for all-cause mortality were derived from graphical reconstruction of Kaplan-Meier curves. Pairwise comparisons and network meta-analysis were conducted. Sensitivity analyses were performed in the TAVI arm for high risk and low/intermediate risk, as well as patients who underwent transfemoral (TF) TAVI. A total of 27 studies with 16,554 patients were included. In the pairwise comparisons, TAVI showed superior mortality to CAVR until 37.5 months, beyond which there was no significant difference. When restricted to TF TAVI versus CAVR, a consistent mortality benefit favoring TF TAVI was seen (shared frailty hazard ratio [HR] = 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.76 to 0.98, p = 0.024). In the network meta-analysis involving majority PSM data, MIAVR demonstrated significantly lower mortality than TAVI (HR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.59 to 0.82) and CAVR (HR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.59 to 0.80); this association remained compared with TF TAVI but with a lower extent of benefit (HR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.65 to 0.99). In conclusion, the initial short- to medium-term mortality benefit for TAVI over CAVR was attenuated over the longer term. In the subset of patients who underwent TF TAVI, a consistent benefit was found. Among majority PSM data, MIAVR showed improved mortality compared with TAVI and CAVR but less than the TF TAVI subset, which requires validation by robust RCTs.