Severe aortic stenosis with symptoms or left ventricular dysfunction has commonly a poor prognosis. Aortic valve replacement is usually performed for these patients aiming at improving their functional class and survival rate. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is often presented as an option in patients with high surgical risk for conventional surgical valve replacement.(1) Nonetheless, in this group of patients, the literature has yielded conflicting evidence suggesting that benefits of TAVI for patients of high or intermediate surgical risk is not consistent.(2,3)

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the mortality rate from a cohort of patients after the correction of aortic valve dysfunction with TAVI. It consisted of a convenience sample of patients at high risk for open surgery for the correction of aortic valve dysfunction treated with TAVI from 2013 to 2016. All included patients were being provided healthcare assistance by a private nonprofit health maintenance organization (HMO) operating in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Since TAVI is not currently covered by the Brazilian supplementary healthcare system, reimbursements were enforced by lawsuits. Data was extracted from an administrative database, using the software Oracle Business Intelligence®. Continuous variables were expressed as mean and standard deviation. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to adjust the 1-year survival curve using the software STATA 13.1 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA). This historical cohort resulted in no interventions, neither during the course of the instituted treatment nor after the observed outcome. Privacy of subjects and the confidentiality of their personal information were handled in accordance to the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Overall, seventeen patients with a mean age of 80.5 years (68-91) underwent TAVI; 59 percent were women. Peri-operative mortality rate was 23.5 percent (n = 4) and accumulated overall one-year mortality was 35.3 percent (n = 6). Mean length of hospital stay was 26.9 ± 16.6 days. Prolonged hospital stay (≥ 7 days) occurred in 14/17 cases (82.3 percent), with a maximum of 51 days.

In similarity to our findings, other authors described a high early and late mortality rate in patients undergoing TAVI. The strategy to use TAVI as an alternative in patients at high risk for open surgery is still under debate and should be carefully discussed taking into consideration the local team expertise as well as local healthcare available recourses.