Utility of Cerebral Embolic Protection Devices in Transcatheter Procedures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

With the emergence of the largest randomized control trial to date-the Stroke Protection With Sentinel During Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (PROTECTED TAVR) study-we sought to conduct an updated meta-analyses to evaluate the utility of CEP devices on both clinical outcomes and neuroimaging parameters. Electronic databases were queried through November 2022 for clinical trials comparing the utility of Cerebral Embolic Protection (CEP) devices in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) with non-CEP TAVR procedures. Meta-analyses were performed using the generic inverse variance technique, and a random-effects model, and results are presented as weighted mean differences (WMD) for continuous outcomes, and hazard ratios (HR) for dichotomous outcomes. Outcomes of interest included stroke, disabling stroke, nondisabling stroke, bleeding, mortality, vascular complications, new ischemic lesions, acute kidney injury (AKI), and total lesion volume. Thirteen studies (8 RCTs, 5 observational studies) consisting of 128,471 patients were included in the analysis. Results from our meta-analyses showed a significant reduction in stroke (OR: 0.84 [0.74-0.95]; P < 0.01; I² = 0%), disabling stroke (OR: 0.37 [0.21-0.67]; P < 0.01; I² = 0%) and bleeding events (OR: 0.91 [0.83-0.99]; P = 0.04; I² = 0%) through CEP device use in TAVR. The use of CEP devices had no significant impact on nondisabling stroke (OR: 0.94 [0.65-1.37]; P < 0.01; I² = 0%), mortality (OR: 0.78 [0.53-1.14]; P < 0.01; I² = 17%), vascular complications (OR: 0.99 [0.63-1.57]; P < 0.01; I² = 28%), AKI (OR: 0.78 [0.46-1.32]; P < 0.01; I² = 0%), new ischemic lesions (MD: -1.72 [-4.01, 0.57]; P < 0.001; I² = 95%) and total lesion volume (MD: -46.11 [-97.38, 5.16]; P < 0.001; I² = 81%). The results suggest that CEP device use was associated with a lower risk of disabling stroke and bleeding events in patients undergoing TAVR.