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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Full-root Aortic Valve Replacement by Stentless Aortic Xenografts in Patients with Small Aortic Roots
Published on: May 21, 2017
Red blood cell distribution width as a prognostic factor in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve
Yishay Szekely1, Ariel Finkelstein1, Samuel Bazan1
1Department of Cardiology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Affiliated with Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Background:
Red blood cell distribution width (RDW), which is routinely reported in complete blood counts, is a measure of the variability in size of circulating erythrocytes. RDW is an independent predictor of prognosis in patients with cardiovascular diseases. We evaluated the short- and long-term prognostic value of RDW in a large cohort of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients.
Methods:
The impact of RDW on outcome was determined prospectively in 1029 consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing transfemoral TAVI. The cohort was divided into 2 groups according to RDW above and below 15.5%. Collected data included patient characteristics, medical background, left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF), frailty score, Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score, periprocedural laboratory results, and long-term (up to 7.5 years) clinical outcomes.
Results:
The mean age (±SD) was 83.1±6.3 years, mean STS score was 4.2±3.1% and mean estimated LVEF was 55.7±8.4%. Mean pre-TAVI RDW levels were 15.3±3.2%. Patients with RDW≤15.5% (n=683) and RDW>15.5% (n=346) had a 1-year mortality rate of 6% and 17%, respectively (p=0.001) and a 5-year mortality rate of 20% and 38%, respectively (p<0.001). Baseline RDW>15.5% was independently associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.83, 95% confidence interval 1.44-2.32, p<0.001).
Conclusions:
Elevated RDW is a strong independent marker and predictor of short- and long-term mortality following TAVI, that might present a relevant future supplement to current preprocedural risk scores. Additional research is needed to clarify the mechanisms responsible for this finding.
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