Chimney Stenting for Coronary Occlusion During TAVR: Insights From the Chimney Registry

The aim of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of chimney stenting, a bailout technique to treat coronary artery occlusion (CAO).

CAO during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a rare but often fatal complication.

In the international Chimney Registry, patient and procedural characteristics and data on outcomes are retrospectively collected from patients who underwent chimney stenting during TAVR.

To date, 16 centers have contributed 60 cases among 12,800 TAVR procedures (0.5%). Chimney stenting was performed for 2 reasons: 1) due to the development of an established CAO (n = 25 [41.6%]); or 2) due to an impending CAO (n = 35 [58.3%]). The majority of cases (92.9%) had 1 or more classical risk factors for CAO. Upfront coronary protection was performed in 44 patients (73.3%). Procedural and in-hospital mortality occurred in 1 and 2 patients, respectively. Myocardial infarction (52.0% vs. 0.0%; p < 0.01), cardiogenic shock (52.0% vs. 2.9%; p < 0.01), and resuscitation (44.0% vs. 2.9%; p < 0.01) all occurred more frequently in patients with established CAO compared with those with impending CAO. The absence of upfront coronary protection was the sole independent risk factor for the combined endpoint of death, cardiogenic shock, or myocardial infarction. During a median follow-up time of 612 days (interquartile range: 405 to 842 days), 2 cases of stent failure were reported (1 in-stent restenosis, 1 possible late stent thrombosis) after 157 and 374 days.

Chimney stenting appears to be an acceptable bailout technique for CAO, with higher event rates among those with established CAO and among those without upfront coronary protection.