Management of large bore access complications in the era of trans-catheter aortic valve replacement

Objectives Trans-catheter aortic valve replacement is a commonplace procedure for patients with aortic valvular stenosis who are at a high risk for surgery, evidenced by the 34,892 trans-catheter aortic valve replacements performed in 2016. Trans-catheter aortic valve replacement’s rate of major vascular complications with second-generation closure devices is 4.5% according to a meta-analysis of 10,822 patients. To manage those complications, percutaneous approaches to arterial repairs show shorter length of stay, higher rate of direct to home discharge and equivalent outcomes at long-term follow-up. This study’s goal is to show that one center’s vascular access strategy can decrease open repairs and improve patient outcomes. Methods Our team began accessing the mid-common femoral artery at least 1–2 cm proximal to the takeoff of the profunda femoris. This allowed an endovascular stent to be deployed if necessary via contralateral femoral access. We performed a completion angiogram following every trans-catheter aortic valve replacement to ensure no arterial complications. We conducted a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database for all trans-catheter aortic valve replacement cases at a tertiary care center from 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2018. Results A total of 699 trans-catheter aortic valve replacement procedures were performed with 25/31 (80.6%) cases met inclusion criteria. An increase was noted in the number of stent procedures versus cutdown procedures over time ( P < 0.001). A decrease was noted in the number of vascular surgery team activations following trans-catheter aortic valve replacement ( P = 0.004). A non-significant trend was noted toward a shorter median length of stay for the stent group ( P = 0.149). There was no increase in 30-day mortality rate (0.0% for both groups) or 30-day readmissions (4/15 (26.7%) for stents vs. 2/10 (20.0%) for open repairs; P > 0.999). Conclusions This strategy is safe and feasible to implement and reduces the number of open repairs following trans-catheter aortic valve replacement, activation of surgical resources, and possibly the length of stay.