The survival rate for high-risk patients with transcatheter aortic valve implants surpassed 61% at 3 years and drops to 45.5% at 5 years, according to a new analysis of data from the U.K. Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Registry.
The results were published in the latest issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, featuring the work of U.K. researchers from the Royal Brompton Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University College London, among others.
Researchers hoped to ascertain long-term numbers that build on earlier U.K. TAVI Registry data finding 30-day and 1-year mortality rates of 7.1% and 21.4%, respectively, for patients who underwent TAVI procedures in the U.K. between 2007 and 2009.
Their look at 870 patients found favorable survival rates at 3 and 5 years, given that patients faced independent predictors of death including kidney problems, coronary artery disease, advanced age and atrial fibrillation. The research team also found that the type of valve replacement, access route and level of paravalvular leakage didn’t independently predict long-term outcomes.
One exception: Post-procedural stroke was an independent procedural predictor of long-term mortality, connected to a much higher risk of death at both 3 and 5 years, according to the study.
Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW), Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) and Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) are fierce competitors in the TAVI space, and others are rising quickly. In April, Direct Flow Medical said it won FDA approval to add a head-to-head comparison with Medtronic’s CoreValve device to a clinical trial of its own replacement heart valve.