SummaryThere are differences in reporting bleeding complications after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), which is a consequence of the lack of consensus for their definition. Furthermore, the amount of data on the impact of peri-procedural bleeding on the mid-term prognosis is still limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, predictors, and impact of life-threatening and major bleedings as defined by the Valve Academic Research Consortium 2 (VARC-2) in patients after TAVI over the mid-term prognosis.Consecutive patients who underwent TAVI from March 2010 to December 2013 were included. All data were classified according to the VARC-2 criteria. We assessed the incidence and the predictors of serious bleeding events (SBE), defined as life-threatening/disabling (LT/D) or major bleeding, and analyzed their impact on 30-day and 1-year clinical outcome.A total of 129 patients were included (79.1 ± 8.3 years; mean EuroSCORE = 17.8 ± 12.7). The SBE occurred in 25 patients (19.4%), of which 9 (7.0%) had LT/D and 16 (12.4%) had major bleeding. Trans-subclavian (TS) access (OR 4.38, 95% CI 2.13-14.29, P = 0.01) and diabetes (OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.08-7.93, P = 0.03) were identified as independent predictors of SBE. Patients with SBE had higher 30-day mortality (20.0% versus 4.0%, P = 0.02) and 1-year mortality (40.0% versus 11.1%, P < 0.002). SBE independently predicted 1-year, all-cause mortality (HR 5.88, 95% CI 1.73-19.94, P = 0.005).SBE are frequent after TAVI and are associated with decreased short and mid-term survival. Diabetes and TS access are independent risk factors for SBE. (Int Heart J 2016; 57: 35-40) Key words: Long term prognosis, TAVR, Complications O ver the last several years we have been witnessing a substantial technical improvement and dynamic expansion of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Increasing operator experience and encouraging clinical outcomes data, revealing favorable results for TAVI in selected populations, have led to major changes in the management of patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). In recent guidelines, TAVI has been recognized as an alternative method to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in high-risk patients and superior over conservative therapy in those disqualified from surgery. 1,2) Nevertheless, this procedure carries a substantial risk of numerous cardiovascular complications, among which the bleeding events are reported as the most frequent.3-7) Still, the body of evidence regarding the frequency of bleeding complications is relatively small, with significant differences in incidence between the studies, which is probably the result of differences in the applied methodology. [8][9][10] The clinical and procedural predictors of bleeding complications are not yet fully identified, and neither is their prognostic value. 3,7,8,10) Although the impact of bleeding on short-term mortality has been demonstrated, the influence on mid-term outcomes remains unclear.
11)To address the issue of heterogeneous reporting of out...