Abstract
Introduction
The latest generation balloon-expandable transcatheter heart valve SAPIEN 3 Ultra (S3-Ultra) was recently released and has shown promising initial results. So far, the pacemaker (PM) implantation rate after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with the S3-Ultra system compared to the SAPIEN 3 (S3) system has not been widely investigated.
Aims
To compare the PM implantation rate after TAVI with the latest generation S3-Ultra system with the S3 system in an unselected cohort of patients at risk.
Methods
We analyzed the development of conduction abnormalities after TAVI in 1780 consecutive patients treated with S3 and S3-Ultra between January 2014 and February 2021. After excluding valve-in-valve procedures (n=31) and patients with previously implanted PM (n=203) 1546 patients were finally analyzed. All patients at risk (i. e. those without previous PM) were monitored with ECG for at least 7 days after TAVI.
Results
Of 1546 patients, 1382 were treated with S3 (20 mm, 14; 23 mm, 524; 26 mm, 558; 29 mm, 286) and 164 with S3-Ultra (20 mm, 0; 23 mm, 77; 26 mm, 87). There were no significant differences in baseline demographic, ECG and procedural characteristics. There was no significant difference in the rate of new developed conduction abnormalities or PM implantation rate between S3 and S3-Ultra in the overall cohort (37.8% S3 vs 33,7% S3-Ultra, p=0.451 for all new conduction abnormalities, 13.8% S3 vs 14.6% S3-Ultra, p=0.756 for PM implantation). This comparable PM implantation rate between the two systems was consistent when analyzing only the 23 and 26 mm valve sizes of the S3 system (12.1% S3 vs. 14.6% S3-Ultra, p=0.361) and when excluding the first period of S3 implantation at our institution (2014) before a modification of the implantation technique that lead to a drop in the rate of PM implantations (S3 2015–2020 12.9% vs S3-Ultra 14.6%, p=0.534).
Conclusions
In our cohort, the PM implantation rate after TAVI with the S3-Ultra system was comparable to that of its predecessor.
FUNDunding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: None.