• Barbara E Stähli, Reto Bünzli, Jürg Grünenfelder, Ines Bühler, Christian Felix, Dominique Bettex, Patric Biaggi, Felix C Tanner, Dan Linh Nguyen-Kim, André Plass, Heng Ge, Volkmar Falk, Thomas F Lüscher, Roberto Corti, Willibald Maier, and Lukas A Altwegg.
• Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Center, University Hospital Zürich, Rämistress 100, 8091 Zürich, Switzerland.
• J Invasive Cardiol. 2011 Aug 1; 23 (8): 307-12.

BackgroundTranscatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become an accepted treatment option for severe aortic stenosis (AS) in high-risk individuals. Yet, current results are difficult to compare given the lack of standardized definitions.Methods And ResultsTAVI was performed in 130 high-risk individuals. The Edwards SAPIEN (n = 50) and the Medtronic CoreValve (n = 80) prostheses were implanted by transfemoral (75%) or transapical (25%) access. Outcomes at 30 days and 1 year are reported according to the newly established Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC) criteria. Median follow-up was 235 days (range, 44-490 days). Thirty-day device success was high (91.5%). Combined safety endpoint at 30 days was 20.8%, with an all-cause mortality of 11.5%. Major vascular complications (11.5%), life-threatening or disabling bleeding (8.5%), and acute kidney injury (6.2%) were further major adverse events. At 1-year follow-up, valve performance was accurate in 94.7% of patients. However, prosthetic-valve associated complications, such as new left bundle branch block (20.0%) or permanent pacemaker implantation (34.7%), were common; cumulative prosthetic-valve associated complications were significantly more frequent in patients treated with a Medtronic CoreValve prosthesis (p = 0.0012). Overall 1-year survival was 80%, with the VARC combined efficacy endpoint (composite of survival, freedom from therapy failure, and accurate valve performance) met in 70.2%. In particular, at 1 year, 68.5% of the patients were living independently at home.ConclusionThe newly established VARC standardized definitions are useful for TAVI outcome reporting.

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