Survival Not Up With Permanent Pacemaker Implantation After TAVR

TUESDAY, Oct. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) — For patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), there is no difference in survival through 10 years for those who do or do not undergo permanent pacemaker implantation within 30 days, according to a study published in the Oct. 11 issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Andreas Rück, M.D., Ph.D., from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, and colleagues conducted a nationwide, population-based cohort study involving all patients who underwent transfemoral TAVR in Sweden from 2008 to 2018. Data were included for 3,420 patients; 14.1 percent underwent permanent pacemaker implantation within 30 days after TAVR.

The researchers found that at one, five, and 10 years, the survival rate was 90.0, 52.7, and 10.9 percent, respectively, in the pacemaker group compared with 92.7, 53.8, and 15.3 percent, respectively, in the nonpacemaker group (hazard ratio, 1.03; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.88 to 1.22; P = 0.692). Patients were followed for a median 2.7 years. Between the groups, there were no significant differences seen in the risks for cardiovascular death, heart failure, or endocarditis.

“Our study contributes to understanding the impact of pacemaker implantation after transcatheter aortic valve replacement, which is becoming increasingly important as the use of this method expands to include younger and low-risk patients with a long life expectancy,” a coauthor said in a statement.

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