Transcatheter versus surgical aortic valve replacement in intermediate-risk patients: Evidence from a meta-analysis

We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in comparison to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in intermediate-risk patients.

TAVR is an established treatment option in high-risk patients with severe aortic valve stenosis (AS). There are fewer data regarding efficacy of TAVR in intermediate-risk patients.

Databases were searched through April 30, 2016 for studies that compared TAVR with SAVR for the treatment of intermediate-risk patients with severe AS. We calculated summary risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with the random-effects model.

The analysis included 4,601 patients from 7 studies (2 randomized and 5 observational). There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality between the two groups after mean follow-up of 1.15 years [14.7% with TAVR vs 15.4% with SAVR; RR 0.93; 95% CI 0.77-1.12]. TAVR resulted in lower rates of acute kidney injury [number needed to treat (NNT) = 26], major bleeding (NNT = 4), and atrial-fibrillation (NNT = 6), but higher rates of major vascular complications [number needed to harm (NNH)= 18], and moderate/severe aortic regurgitation (NNH = 13). The rate of permanent-pacemaker implantation was significantly higher with TAVR in observational studies (RR 2.31; 95% CI 1.22-2.81), but not in RCTs (RR 1.21; 95% CI 0.93-1.56). No significant difference in the rate of stroke or myocardial infarction was observed.

Our analysis of mid-term results showed that TAVR has similar clinical efficacy to SAVR in intermediate-risk patients with severe AS, and can be a suitable alternative to surgical valve replacement. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.