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Silent cerebral infarction and cognitive function following TAVI: an observational two-centre UK comparison of the first-generation CoreValve and second-generation Lotus valve

  • Tarique Al Musa
  • , Akhlaque Uddin
  • , Catherine Loveday
  • , Laura E. Dobson
  • , Mark Igra
  • , Fiona Richards
  • , Peter P. Swoboda
  • , Anvesha Singh
  • , Pankaj Garg
  • , James R. J. Foley
  • , Graham J. Fent
  • , Anthony J. P. Goddard
  • , Christopher Malkin
  • , Sven Plein
  • , Daniel J. Blackman
  • , Gerald P. McCann
  • , John P. Greenwood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
12 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objective: To compare the incidence of silent cerebral infarction and impact on cognitive function following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with the first-generation CoreValve (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) and second-generation Lotus valve (Boston Scientific, Natick Massachusetts, USA).

Design: A prospective observational study comprising a 1.5 T cerebral MRI scan, performed preoperatively and immediately following TAVI, and neurocognitive assessments performed at baseline, 30 days and 1 year follow-up.

Setting: University hospitals of Leeds and Leicester, UK.

Patients 66 (80.6±8.0 years, 47% male) patients with high-risk severe symptomatic aortic stenosis recruited between April 2012 and May 2015.

Main outcome measures: Incidence of new cerebral microinfarction and objective decline in neurocognitive performance.

Results: All underwent cerebral MRI at baseline and immediately following TAVI, and 49 (25 Lotus, 24 CoreValve) completed neurocognitive assessments at baseline, 30 days and 1 year. There was a significantly greater incidence of new cerebral microinfarction observed following the Lotus TAVI (23 (79%) vs 22 (59%), p=0.025) with a greater number of new infarcts per patient (median 3.5 (IQR 7.0) vs 2.0 (IQR 3.0), p=0.002). The mean volume of infarcted cerebral tissue per patient was equivalent following the two prostheses (p=0.166). More patients suffered new anterior (14 (48%) vs 2 (5%), p=0.001) and vertebrobasilar (15 (52%) vs 7 (19%), p=0.005) lesions following Lotus. Lotus was associated with a decline in verbal memory and psychomotor speed at 30 days. However, performance longitudinally at 1 year was preserved in all neurocognitive domains.

Conclusions: There was a higher incidence of silent cerebral microinfarction and a greater number of lesions per patient following Lotus compared with CoreValve. However, there was no objective decline in neurocognitive function discernible at 1 year following TAVI with either prosthesis.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere022329
JournalBMJ Open
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jan 2019

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