Death and Dialysis After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: An Analysis of the STS/ACC TVT Registry

The authors sought to elucidate the true incidence of renal replacement therapy (RRT) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

There is a wide discrepancy in the reported rate of RRT after TAVR (1.4% to 40%). The true incidence of RRT after TAVR is unknown.

The STS/ACC TVT (Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy) registry was linked to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid database to identify all patients that underwent TAVR from November 2011 through September 2015 and their outcomes. The authors compared rates of death, new RRT, and a composite of both as a function of pre-procedure glomerular filtration rate (GFR), both in stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), as well as on a continuous scale.

Pre-procedure GFR is associated with the risk of death and new RRT after TAVR when GFR is <60 ml/min/m², and increases significantly when GFR falls below 30 ml/min/m². Incremental increases in GFR of 5 ml/min/m² were statistically significant (unadjusted hazard ratio: 0.71; p < 0.001) at 30 days, and continued to be significant at 1 year when pre-procedure GFR was <60 ml/min/m². One in 3 CKD stage 4 patients will be dead within 1 year, with 14.6% (roughly 1 in 6) requiring dialysis. In CKD stage 5, more than one-third of patients will require RRT within 30 days; nearly two-thirds will require RRT at 1 year.

In both unadjusted and adjusted analysis, pre-procedural GFR was associated with the outcomes of death and new RRT. Increasing CKD stage leads to an increased risk of death and/or RRT. Continuous analysis showed significant differences in outcomes in all levels of CKD when GFR was <60 ml/min/m². Pre-procedure GFR should be considered when selecting CKD patients for TAVR.