Cognitive dysfunction among patients referred for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: results of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and clinical impact at 6 months

Background

Detection of Cognitive Dysfunction (CD) is not routinely performed among patients undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI). We sought to determine whether CD has an impact on the clinical course of these patients, during hospitalization at the time of TAVI and up to 6 months afterwards.

Methods

The MoCA was performed before TAVI by an experienced operator in an unselected population of patients referred for TAVI. CD was defined according to the MoCA score: No CD if score ≥26, mild CD if score 18–25, moderate if 10–17 and severe if <10. Multivariate Cox logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of CD on procedural success of TAVI, length of stay, 6 month survival, re-admission, and change in clinical status (changes in NYHA class and/or functional status).

Results

MoCA was performed in 83 consecutive patients. TAVI was performed using femoral access and local anesthesia in all patients. There were no procedural deaths, and 2 deaths at 6 months. The median age was 85 years, and median Euroscore I was 11.62. The median MOCA score was 22, CD was excluded in 17 (20%), mild in 50 (60%), moderate in 15 (18%) and severe in one patient. No difference was observed in rate of procedural success, 6 month mortality, re-admission, degree of dyspnea by NYHA between the different cognitive groups. Length of stay after the TAVI procedure was lower in patients without CD, compared to those with CD at any level: 3±1 days versus 4.3±1 days, p=0.045, and p=0.02 by multivariate analysis (figure).

Conclusion

Among patients referred for TAVI, mild or moderate CD was observed in 80% of patients. Patients without CD had a shorter length of stay at the time of TAVI, but CD was not associated with worse prognosis or clinical status at 6 months.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.

Assessment of cognitive dysfunction using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test: rate, severity and comparison with the Clock test alone in a population of patients referred for TAVI

Background

Although not recommended in routine practice, the detection and quantification of Cognitive Dysfunction (CD) in older patients might have an impact on clinical decisions. We assessed the rate and severity of CD in an unselected population of patients referred for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and using the Clock Drawing Test (ClockT) alone.

Methods

The MoCA was performed before TAVI by an experienced operator. The ClockT was scored out of 10 points according to the Rouleau rating scale. CD was defined according to the MoCA score: No CD if score ≥26, mild CD if score 18–25, moderate if 10–17 and severe if <10. Inter-observer reliability of scoring on the ClockT was estimated with the Bland-Altman method. Agreement between MoCA scores and the ClockT for ruling out and for detecting CD were measured with the Kappa coefficient.

Results

MoCA was performed in 83 consecutive patients referred for TAVI, median age 85 years. The mean time required for assessment was 11±2 min for the MoCA and 3±2 min for the ClockT. The mean MoCA score was 21±4.5: CD was excluded in 17 (20%) pts, mild CD was found in 50 (60%), moderate in 15 (18%) and severe in one (1%). The median ClockT score was 8 (interquartile 6; 9), with excellent inter-observer concordance (Kappa= 0.84). Overall, 51% of the variance of the MoCA score was explained by the ClockT alone according to multiple regression. A ClockT <7 detected a group with significantly lower MoCA score, compared to pts with higher ClockT scores (figure).

Conclusion

Among patients referred for TAVI, CD can be excluded using the MoCA test in 20%, while moderate or severe CD is observed in 18%. The ClockT alone is faster to implement, reliable to interpret and enabled detection of patients with moderate CD when Rouleau scoring was <7.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.