• Frédéric Maes, Stamatios Lerakis, Barbosa RibeiroHenriqueHQuebec Heart & Lung Institute, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada., Martine Gilard, João L Cavalcante, Raj Makkar, Howard C Herrmann, Stephan Windecker, Maurice Enriquez-Sarano, Asim N Cheema, Luis Nombela-Franco, Ignacio Amat-Santos, Antonio J Muñoz-García, Bruno Garcia Del Blanco, Alan Zajarias, John C Lisko, Salim Hayek, Vasilis Babaliaros, Florent Le Ven, Thomas G Gleason, Tarun Chakravarty, Wilson Szeto, Marie-Annick Clavel, Alberto de Agustin, Vicenç Serra, John T Schindler, Abdellaziz Dahou, Mohammed Salah-Annabi, Emilie Pelletier-Beaumont, Melanie Côté, Rishi Puri, Philippe Pibarot, and Josep Rodés-Cabau.
• Quebec Heart & Lung Institute, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
• JAMA Cardiol. 2019 Jan 1; 4 (1): 64-70.

ImportanceIn low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis (LFLG AS), the severity of left ventricular dysfunction remains a key factor in the evaluation of aortic valve replacement.ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical outcomes and changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with LFLG AS and severe left ventricular dysfunction.Design, Setting, And ParticipantsThis multicenter registry is a substudy of the True or Pseudo-Severe Aortic Stenosis-TAVI registry that included patients with classic LFLG AS, defined as a mean transvalvular gradient less than 35 mm Hg, an effective orifice area less than 1.0 cm2, and an LVEF of 40% or less. Patients were divided in groups with very low (<30%) LVEF and low (30%-40%) LVEF. Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) was performed before TAVR in a subset with very low LVEF, and presence of contractile reserve was defined as an increase of 20% or more in stroke volume. Clinical outcomes were assessed at 1 and 12 months and yearly thereafter, and echocardiography was performed at 1-year follow-up. Retrospective data were collected from 2007 to 2013 and prospective data from January 2013 to March 2018. Data were analyzed from March to October 2018.ExposuresTranscatheter aortic valve replacement in patients with LFLG AS.Main Outcomes And MeasuresChanges in LVEF over time; periprocedural and late mortality.ResultsA total of 293 patients were included, including 128 (43.7%) with very low LVEF and 165 with low LVEF (56.3%). Their mean (SD) age was 80 (7) years, and most (214 [73.0%]) were men. The mean (SD) LVEF in the very low LVEF group was 22% (5%), compared with 37% (7%) in the low LVEF group (P < .001). There were no differences between groups in rates of periprocedural mortality and late mortality (median [interquartile range], 23 [6-38] months). Patients with very low LVEF displayed a greater increase in LVEF at the 1-year follow-up examination (mean absolute increase, 11.9% [95% CI, 8.8%-15.1%]), than the low LVEF group (3.6% [95% CI, 1.1%-6.1%]; P < .001). In 92 patients with very low LVEF who had preprocedural DSE, results showed a lack of contractile reserve in 45 (49%), but this had no effect on clinical outcomes or changes in LVEF over time.Conclusions And RelevanceIn patients with LFLG AS and severe left ventricular dysfunction, TAVR was associated with similar clinical outcomes as in counterparts with milder left ventricular dysfunction. The TAVR procedure was associated with a significant increase in LVEF, irrespective of contractile reserve. These results support TAVR for LFLG AS, irrespective of the severity of left ventricular dysfunction and DSE results.

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