Transcatheter or surgical aortic valve implantation in chronic dialysis patients: a German Aortic Valve Registry analysis

Objectives The aim of this study was to compare outcomes of transcatheter and surgical aortic valve implantation in chronic dialysis patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS). Background Chronic dialysis patients undergoing heart valve surgery are at higher risk for morbidity and mortality. Whether interventional techniques can reduce this risk is unclear because dialysis patients have thus far been excluded from randomized trials. Methods Chronic dialysis patients with AS enrolled in the German Aortic Valve Registry (GARY) between 2012 and 2015 were analyzed to compare transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI n = 661) with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR n = 457). Propensity scores for inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were used to adjust the comparison of the two treatment groups for potential confounders. Results TAVI patients were older (78 ± 7.3 vs. 69 ± 10.2 years, p