Prognostic impact of permanent pacemaker implantation after transcatheter aortic valve replacement

Conduction disturbances requiring permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) remain a common complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic impact of PPI after TAVR according to the timing of implantation relative to TAVR.

A total of 1199 patients (median age 83 years; interquartile range 78-86 years; 549 [45.8%] female) were included in the analysis, of whom 894 (70.8%) had not undergone PPI, 130 (10.8%) had undergone previous PPI, 116 (9.7%) had undergone in-hospital PPI, and 59 (4.9%) had undergone PPI during follow-up. Median follow-up was 2.94 years (1.42-4.32 years). The primary outcome was the composite of all-cause mortality and hospitalization for heart failure.

PPI during follow-up was associated with a higher occurrence of the primary outcome (hazard ratio [HR] 2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39-3.20) whereas previous PPI and in-hospital PPI were not (HR 0.96; 95% CI 0.71-1.29 and HR 1.26; 95% CI 0.88-1.81, respectively). PPI during follow-up was associated with a higher risk of hospitalization for heart failure (sub-HR 3.21; 95% CI 2.02-5.11), while this relationship was only borderline significant for previous PPI (sub-HR 1.51; 95% CI 0.99-2.29). In contrast, there was no relationship between in-hospital PPI and the subsequent risk of hospitalization for heart failure.

Previous PPI and in-hospital PPI had no long-term prognostic impact on the risk of all-cause mortality and hospitalization for heart failure, whereas PPI during follow-up was associated with a higher risk of hospitalization for heart failure. The present study questions the deleterious influence of periprocedural post-TAVR PPI, which has previously been suggested by certain studies.