Anesthetic management of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation

To compare 2 anesthetic techniques, general anesthesia or monitored anesthesia care, performed by the same cardiac anesthesiologists for transcatheter aortic valve implantation in the authors' institution.

A retrospective study.

A single specialized cardiac surgery center.

Ninety-eight patients with severe aortic valve stenosis and a high logistic EuroSCORE considered not eligible to undergo conventional aortic valve replacement.

General anesthesia or monitored anesthesia care.

General anesthesia was used in 57 and monitored anesthesia care in 41 patients. The authors compared the following parameters: Duration of procedure, transfusion requirements, cardiac indices, superior vena cava saturation (ScVO2) before and after the aortic valve implantation, hospital length of stay and 30-day mortality. The only significant differences between the groups concerned were the duration of anesthesia (p<0.001) and ScVO2 values. Anesthesia duration was prolonged significantly when general anesthesia was administered, and ScVO2 was significantly higher both before and after the valve implantation in the general anesthesia group. Thirty-day mortality was 5.3% in the general anesthesia group and 4.9% in the monitored anesthesia group.

It would appear that both anesthetic techniques may be used for patients with a high logistic EuroSCORE undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation.