Percutaneous aortic valve replacement (AVR) is emerging as an alternative therapeutic approach for high-risk surgical patients, but criteria for patient selection are not clearly established. We sought to evaluate the perioperative and mid-term outcomes in a contemporary cohort of high-risk patients undergoing isolated AVR. Between 1997 and 2006, 855 consecutive patients underwent isolated AVR at our institution. High-risk patients (n=162, 19%) were defined by a preoperative Parsonnet score ≥ 30 or Euroscore ≥ 9. The remaining 693 patients (81%) composed the control group for comparison of perioperative mortality and mid-term freedom from all-cause and cardiac-related mortality. Mean follow up was 2.9±2.1 years. Perioperative mortality was 8.6% in the high-risk and 2.9% in the control group (p=0.0007), lower than that predicted by both scores (p<0.05). Freedom from all-cause mortality at 1 and 5 years were 94% and 82% for the control group and 87% and 65% for high-risk patients (p<0.0001). Freedom from cardiac-related mortality was also higher in the control (96% at 1 year, 91% at 5 years) than the high-risk (89% and 82%, p=0.0003) group. When considering patients who survived the 3-month perioperative period (537 in control, 114 in high-risk group), freedom from all-cause mortality was still higher in the former group at 1 and 5 years (99% vs 99% and 85% vs 75%, respectively, p=0.005), but freedom from cardiac-related mortality was not different (99% vs 100% and 94% vs 92%, respectively, p=0.3). By multivariate analysis, chronic renal failure, emergent procedures and reoperations were identified as independent predictors of mortality in high-risk patients. Contemporary perioperative mortality for isolated AVR in high-risk patients is lower than predicted by the Parsonnet score and Euroscore. Five-year survival in these patients is acceptable, and survivors of the operation experience the same cardiac-related survival benefit as those with standard perioperative risk. The perioperative survival benefit of percutaneous approaches for high-risk patients undergoing AVR remains to be demonstrated and, if present, should be weighed against mid-term outcome benefits of conventional surgical AVR.
Pediatric heart transplantation: Improving results in high-risk patients
