Procedural Mortality With Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement - Balloon Inflation is Associated With Increased Risk

To assess the impact of balloon use for predilation, valve implantation, or postdilation on in-hospital mortality among patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). TAVR utilizes self-expanding, mechanically expanding, or balloon-expandable valves. Balloon inflation is inherent to deployment of balloon-expandable valves. Balloons may additionally be used with all valve types for pre- and postdilation. The relationships between valve mechanism, balloon use, and in-hospital mortality are not fully characterized. Prospective data were collected on 4063 patients undergoing TAVR for aortic stenosis at 4 high-volume centers in the United Kingdom. In-hospital mortality was analyzed according to valve expansion mechanism, use of balloons for pre- and postdilation, and specific cause of death. Mean patient age was 83 ± 8 years. Implanted valves were self expanding (n = 2241; 55%), mechanically expanding (n = 1092; 27%), or balloon expandable (n = 727; 18%). In-hospital death occurred in 66 cases (1.6%). Thirty-six deaths (54.5%) were classified as implantation-related mortalities, with rates of 0.8%, 0.5%, and 1.7% (P=.04) among self-expanding, mechanically expanding, and balloon-expandable technologies, respectively. Patients who underwent balloon inflation at any stage of their procedure (n = 2556; 63%) had significantly higher implantation-related mortality than those who did not (1.3% vs 0.3%, respectively; P