Cerebral Embolism After Transcarotid Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Factors Associated With Ipsilateral Ischemic Burden

Transcarotid transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) recipients may be exposed to a higher ipsilateral subclinical cerebral ischemic burden compared with the contralateral hemisphere. We sought (1) to compare the cerebral ischemic burden of the 2 hemispheres after transcarotid TAVR, as evaluated by diffusion weighted-magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI), and (2) to identify the factors associated with ipsilateral ischemic burden. This prospective study included 52 patients undergoing transcarotid TAVR, followed by a DW-MRI examination. All DW-MRIs were analyzed offline by a radiologist blinded to the clinical data. TAVR was performed through the left (n = 50) or right (n = 2) carotid artery. Procedural success was achieved in all patients, carotid dissection requiring patch closure occurred in 1 patient, and there were no periprocedural stroke events. At least 1 cerebral ischemic lesion was identified in the ipsilateral and contralateral hemisphere in 84.6% and 63.5% of patients, respectively (P = .005), and the number of ischemic lesions per patient was higher in the ipsilateral vs the contralateral hemisphere (2 [interquartile range, 1-5] vs 1 [interquartile range, 0-3], P = .005). The lesion volume (per lesion) and the average lesion volume (per patient) did not differ between the 2 hemispheres. A larger sheath/catheter size (≥18F vs ≤16F) was associated with a higher ipsilateral ischemic burden (P = .026). Carotid artery access for TAVR was associated with a higher number of cerebral ischemic lesions in the ipsilateral (vs contralateral) cerebral hemisphere. The use of a larger sheath/delivery system (≥18F) was associated with an increased ipsilateral ischemic burden.