A computed tomography study of coronary access and coronary obstruction after redo transcatheter aortic valve...

The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of impaired coronary access and coronary obstruction after redo TAVI.

Post-procedure multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scans of 221 TAVI recipients were analysed. Increased risk of impaired coronary access was defined as a coronary ostium below the TAVI commissures with a valve-to-aorta distance <2 mm at this level. Increased risk was found in 123 (55.6%) cases: the left main was involved in 109 (49.3%), the right coronary in 79 (35.7%), and both were involved in 65 (29.4%) patients. A small sinotubular junction (STJ width OR 0.68, CI: 0.56-0.81, p<0.001; STJ height OR 0.81, CI: 0.69-0.95, p<0.011) and supra-annular devices (OR 19.8, CI: 6.6-58.8, p<0.001) predicted increased risk. Increased risk of coronary obstruction, defined as a coronary ostium below the TAVI commissures with a valve-to-coronary distance <2 mm, was observed in 14.9% of patients; in 17.2% of cases complete sealing of the STJ would occur.

Post-TAVI MDCT suggested an increased potential risk of impaired coronary access in more than half of the patients should redo TAVI be required, predicted by a small STJ and supra-annular device design. Furthermore, 10-20% of patients presented an increased risk of coronary obstruction. While this theoretical study is hypothesis-generating, it raises concerns that need to be further investigated and addressed before TAVI is extended to patients with longer life expectancy.